My Thanks to You
by SaySaeri
Summary: AU. After losing most of her memories due to an accident at a train station at 5 yrs. old, Lovina restarts her life. Along the way, she changes lives and becomes her own person with her new best friend Antonio. But what about years later, when her past comes to find her? Eventual Spa/nyoRoma, Ger/nyoIta, and Pru/nyoCan. FastLearner!Lovina and Mafia!Feliciana.
1. Little Lovina

**Hi! This idea came to my head when... actually, I don't remember; I just know it involved a train.**

**Warning: Language, some OC's, some violence, and self harm in the form of slapping.****  
**

**I don't really know the the train system works, so sorry for any mistake involving that.**

**I don't own Hetalia, it belongs to Himaruya-san.**

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"Do you want some of the candy, Feliciana?"

"Yay! Thank you Papa!"

I watched him give her some candy that seemed to come out of nowhere. He then went to look at something in his bag. What about me? I mean, I don't even want any candy! He probably knew that, but it wouldn't hurt to ask me anyway.

It's okay though, I can live through it... as I'm not even his kid anyway. I quit looking at them and stared at the feet of people passing by our seat on the train.

For a while now, I knew. I didn't look like him, or Feli's mama for that matter. I remember waking up in the middle of the night and hearing them talk about me in their room- about how I wasn't their child. I scowled now and continued to stare at other people's feet.

Why? If you weren't even going to love me like one of your own, why did you keep me? I would've been better off in an orphanage... maybe. They said something about my parents not mentally stable enough to raise me; something tragic had happened to them. They also said they had to keep me away from them as far as possible. So that meant I knew them- but I don't really keep track of their friends, or anybody that comes over; there are too many, I can't remember them well.

I'm only five, but I can think like this. He told me to try not to think a lot; he said I'm not supposed to be thinking like I'm thinking right now and play with the other kids, like Feli, but I didn't want to. I'd rather sit under a tree somewhere to myself, either thinking or... something one person could do by oneself.

I turned my head to the window; we're heading south now, towards Sicily. Not there yet, but we were going to be, in how many hours- I don't know.

I turned my head to Roberto to ask, "Hey, bastard."

He turned to me. "Yes? And, language." He didn't really like it when I cussed. I had learned it from a friend of his. What was his name again? Ron? Don? Coincidentally, he wasn't getting along with this friend, and I was reminding him of it.

"Sorry. What time are we getting there, ba- I mean Roberto?"

He sighed and straightened the tie he was wearing. "Soon, soon. Don't worry, we will get home before dinner." He looked out the window now, and asked Feliciana, who was still eating candy, if she could count the clouds outside the window.

I frowned and stared at the empty seat in front of me. He didn't look at me once, not even a glance! He treated me like those sale clerks people try to ignore when they're shopping. And he said before dinner like I was hungry; I'm not hungry, we had lunch just a few minutes ago on this train! I crossed my arms in irritation.

This bastard.

The sun was beginning to set now.

Feliciana tried to talk with me, asking me to color with her on a book she brought with her, but Roberto kept interrupting, saying some shit about the scenery in the setting sun. Lately, he always tried to distance me away from her.

Suddenly, I hear the doors within the train slam together. I can hear people yelling in fear, and I can hear men screaming to each other.

*Slam* Someone had come in to our area.

I watched as a man with dark hair came into view in front of us. He looked at Roberto and smiled like a evil villain.

I stared at the man as Roberto spoke to him. "What are you doing here? You're disrupting this train." He sounded angry.

The man narrowed his eyes at him. "I came for what was mine and Chiara's you bastard."

"Don, this isn't the right time to do this-"

"Do you think I really care for- " suddenly, there was smoke. "The hell?"

I can hear another man in the train somewhere. "Ha! Now this will teach you to disrupt my quiet time!"

I can hear someone running towards us; it was probably that man.

"What the?" I hear the other man, Don say as he... was shoved against the wall? It was hard to tell with the smoke.

"Papa, what's happening?" I hear Feli say.

"Don't worry; come on, we need to get out of here." As Roberto said that, the train lurched; we probably stopped somewhere because of the smoke.

I heard the doors open and people running out as fast as they can.

"Come on!" I heard Roberto say. I can see now, a little bit. He was holding on to Feli's hand and hurrying her out- I started to follow him as he ran towards the exit.

I started coughing, the smoke was becoming to much; I had a headache now. As we were almost out the door, I can hear that man Don.

"Damn you Rob! I just want my-" I stopped listening as I tripped. "Damn it!" I say as I feel my knees hurting. My headache was getting worse too- wait. Where were Roberto and Feli?

I swayed as I got up and looked around. They... did they leave me? I started feeling scared now. I started to walk around and look for them, but it was hard to with my headache- it was affecting how I see.

Suddenly I see Feli's curl. "Feli?" I started to run towards what I thought was Feli. I tripped again, but it was harder to get up now and my coughing started to hurt.

"Fe-Feliciana..." I started to cry; it was beginning to hurt. My head hurt, my throat hurt, my knees hurt, and my eyes were clouded in tears.

"Wait... for me.." Can anyone hear me? My throat hurt so much...

No one came to me, are they ignoring me? I was getting so scared; I tried to talk again.

"I'll be a good girl I promise...please come back..." It hurt so much... Did they forget?

"I...I don't want to be alone..." My heart began to ache; they weren't coming back for me, were they?

I suddenly saw a pair of feet in front of me. Before I can look up, I blacked out.

(Next scene)

Julius, dark haired and blue eyed, walked out of the train and sat in the bench, waiting for the next one. As he sat on the bench, he stared at the gold ring resting around his finger and smiled.

He adored his wife to pieces; today, she was in the hospital. He frowned now- he had learned from the doctor that she had gotten a miscarriage. He was relived when he heard that she was alright, but...

They had always wanted children, ever since they were children together. Now, that they married, they could make that dream come true, but now...

He was sad of course, but he was happy that Luciana was okay above all. They'll make it through this, one way or another.

Suddenly he heard a commotion from one of the trains. He watched as smoke came out with people running in different directions in a panic.

'I hoped no one got killed or anything' he thought as he got up with his briefcase and looked at his watch. It was time to go to the next train now.

He saw his train and starting walking to it, going past people that had come out of the train with smoke in it.

"Papa! Papa! Sister, she's still back there!" He watched as a man holding a tiny girl with a curl ran by. He continued to watch as the girl cried.

"Si-sister! Papa, we need to go back!"

The man continued to run, ignoring his daughter's cries. 'What a father!' Julius thought angrily to himself.

'How can a father leave another daughter behind?' Suddenly he stopped; something was in front of his feet.

He looked down to see a small girl with dark brown hair. Her face was a bit dirty; it must be due to the smoke, he assumed silently to himself.

He watched as her eyes closed. He panicked, "No, don't die on me!" he says loudly as he bent down and picked her up. He watched as she started to breathe the slightest bit and sighed in relief.

'It's a good thing I'm on my way to see Luciana at the hospital.'

(Next scene)

"Do you know the parents?" asked a police officer. He was at the hospital now and he had called an officer to see the little girl.

"No, but I saw him running away with his other daughter."

"Sorry, but we can't do anything if we can't identify who she belongs to. We'll have to wait for the parent to file in for a missing child."

"I...I see."

When the girl wakes up, we'll come tak-"

He interrupted him. "If it's alright, I'll take her in."

The officer paused for a moment. "I suppose you can do that. I'll let it up to her when she wakes up. If you excuse me, I'll go be on my break until she wakes up."

As the officer left, Julius decided to go see his wife.

On the fifth floor, in a room that seemed completely lifeless, laid his Luciana.

He sat next to her and clasped his hand in hers. "Hi sweetheart."

She smiled at him, but her eyes said otherwise. "I'm sorry, I wasn't strong enough-"

"Shh, it's not your fault," he caressed her hair, "We will try again someday, after all, we're only 20."

"Do you think we tried too soon?" she whispered.

"No, we just had some bad luck is all," he whispered back.

"Excuse me?" They looked to see a nurse come in.

She looked at Julius. "That little girl, she is waking up."

"Is that so? Can you bring her in here?"

"I'll try." And the nurse left.

"What little girl, Jul?" asked Luciana. He told her what had happened at the last train station he was in.

"That is just..." she straightened up on the bed.

Then the nurse walked in. They watched as she brought in the little girl in a wheelchair.

"Can we be alone?" He asked. The nurse nodded and walked out.

He looked down at her. "Are you alright?"

The little girl frowned. "I... I can't really remember," she paused.

They watched in shock as she started slapping herself, "Damn! Why can't I remember?"

"No, don't do that, you'll hurt yourself," says Luciana, as Julius went to grab on to the girl's hand to make sure she stopped hitting herself.

Her eyes lowered to the ground. "Did I want to forget?" she asked herself in a small voice. Julius stiffened, he could understand why she would want to forget.

"What do you remember?" asked Julius.

"I...remember running- I couldn't really see where I was going. And voices, faint voices..." she paused to remember more, "No one came back for me," she suddenly said in a small voice.

Julius frowned and tried to change the conversation. "What else do you remember about your father?"

The little girl stared and frowned back at him. "The bastard is not my father."

"Oh... then who was he?" He still frowning, but now in confusion and at her vocabulary.

"I guess, he was like my godfather or something, but I know he wasn't my dad."

"Hmm.." he tried to wrap this information around his head.

"...Hey bastard." He looked at the girl. "What?"

"What happens to me now?"

* * *

**I'll continue this conversation in the next chapter. **

**How was it? Did you notice that I didn't say her name?**

**There is going to be some future hints of Spamano in the next chapters**

**As for Ger/fem!Ita, that's going to be some ways away, along with Pru/fem!Can.**

**Please review!**


	2. Nice to Meet You

**Welcome to chapter 2!**

**Warning: Cussing. And translations from Google Translate (I do not own)**

**The introduction of child!Spamana.**

**I didn't put in her name in the last chapter because she had forgotten, lame reason, but that was about it.**

**Julius has dark hair and blue eyes. For some reason, I imagine him half Italian, part French, and part American with a random last name.**

**Luciana has dark brown hair and brown eyes. She's Italian.**

**Lovina has dark brown hair and hazel eyes, since I'm indecisive between brown and green. **

**Oh, I really don't know how the system works, so pardon any mistakes.**

**I don't own Hetalia.**

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_"What happens to me now?"_

Julius replayed that in his head; What will happen to her?

When he told the child that he didn't know, she just shrugged and asked to go on the bed and sit next to Luciana.

Now she was fast asleep next to Luciana, who was currently stroking her hair.

"Now that I think about it, we still don't know her name," says Luciana softly.

"I wonder what it is, but-" Julius paused, "what I'm wondering is where she is going to go after this."

"Is she going to the orphanage? Foster care?"

"Maybe. We're going to wait and see if her...Godfather is going to file in for a missing child, whoever he is."

"Can... she come with us?"

"Lu?"

"We can always try again of course, but I... I really don't like the thought of her in an orphanage or foster care."

"Me either." He didn't want her being left all alone like that ever again.

A nurse came in. "The officer wants to see you and the girl."

Julius frowned at this and went to pick the girl up. "Okay, we're coming."

He turned to his wife for a moment before going to meet the officer. "I'll try to make sure she comes with us."

(Next scene! Her POV, kind of)

She woke up to the sound of that man and that officer.

"Ah, you're awake," says the officer.

'When the hell did I get so tall?' she thought. And then she realized that other man was carrying her, 'Oh,' she didn't mind though, because she was still tired.

"As of now, your guardian didn't file in for a missing child. So we might arrange for you to be put in foster care."

"Oh, okay." That sounded right to her, she guessed.

"Unless, Mr. Santos and his wife wish to adopt you. You can go with them."

"Who?"

"That would be me," says the man holding her. She looked up at him.

"You want me to come with you, bastard?"

"Yeah, if that's alright with you. Me and Luciana can't imagine you in an orphanage and foster care."

She frowned, unsure. "Are you sure?"

"Of course. Lu and I talked about it earlier; we'd be happy to welcome you into our family."

"You won't leave?" At this, he squeezed her tightly. "No, we won't."

"...okay."

The officer nodded. "Okay then, I'll go file the paperwork then. Your name kid?"

She frowned. 'My name? What was it again?'

"Lo-," she tried to think harder, "vina?"

"Hmm? You can't remember?"

"Give me a moment bastard, please," she said.

"Lov-Lov-i," she paused in further thought before finally getting it, "Lovina."

"Lovina huh? Okay then, I'll put it in along with the paperwork."

(Next scene, some hours later. Normal POV)

Lovina looked out the window of the car, taking in the scenery.

"Are you excited?" asked Luciana.

"I guess so; where do you guys live anyway?"

"We live near our wine orchard," answered Julius, "But right now, we are going to the market to get groceries for dinner."

"Oh, okay bastard."

"I've been wondering this, but where did you know how to talk like that?"

"Hmm? I don't remember, but apparently it's a habit."

"I see. Try not to do it in front of older adults, okay?"

"Okay."

At the market, there were so many people; Lovina looked around curiously, eyeing the different vendors while clutching on to Julius's pants.

"Don't wander too far, okay Lovina?" says Julius. They were at a fruit and vegetable stand now. She looked at the tomatoes; for some reason, she liked how they looked- it was a pretty red color. As she was looking at it, something in the corner caught her eye; a ball hitting the wall in an alley way repeatedly. She looked up at Luciana and Julius; they were talking to the vendor, who was a nice looking lady with her messy brown hair up in a bun. They seemed distracted enough, so she carefully walked to the alley way.

She peered around the corner. A boy with brown hair was kicking the ball to the wall and back, trying to have fun but his eyes said differently. She watched curiously as he kicked it again; then she looked to her own legs and tried to mimic him. 'It doesn't look too hard,' she thought.

'Will he let me play with him?' She walked towards him. She watched as he stopped his kicking, picked up his ball, and stared at her with vibrant green eyes.

"¡Hola" he said cheerfully.*

She frowned. She didn't understand was he was saying. "Hi," she said simply. She watched as the boy frowned a bit as well. "Se puede entender español?"*

'I can't really understand what this bastard is saying at all!' she thought in frustration. "I- I can't understand you..."

The boy seemed to think to himself for a moment before holding his ball out. "¿Quieres jugar conmigo?"*

When she cocked her head in confusion, he set his ball on the ground and kicked it to her. "¿Quieres jugar al fútbol conmigo?"*

'I can only understand part of that. Oh, I get it; the bastard wants to play with me!' She nodded and the boy smiled. She kicked back the ball to him. "I'm Lovina."

He kicked the ball to her again. "Soy Antonio." Back and forth they kicked the ball, avoiding conversation; Lovina grew frustrated in this silence. 'This is getting boring, just passing the ball to each other every time.'

She decided to try and talk to him. "Hey Antonio."

"Si?"

'That I can understand!' she thought happily to herself. "Where are you from?"

When he looked confused as he kicked the ball, she elaborated further, "I was born in here in Italy, you?" 'At least, I think I was born here.'

"No lo entiendo..." he said frowning.*

'Let's see, something easier...' She kicked the ball back to him. "I'm from Italy."

This he seemed to understand. "Soy de España." And he kicked the ball back to her and smiled.

"Lovina?" She turned around to see Julius look worriedly at her. "We're done, so we should go back home now."

"Already?" she asked. She looked back at Antonio sadly. "Bye, Antonio." She kicked the ball back to him.

As she walked to Julius, the vendor lady they were talking to looked at Antonio. "Es hora de ir por dentro. Vamos a hacer la cena juntos."* Antonio stared at Lovina before nodding to his mother and went inside with his ball.

* * *

**This was a pretty short chapter. Hmm...**

**- Hi.**

**- Can you understand Spanish?**

**- Do you want to play with me?**

**- Do you want to play soccer/football with me?**

**- I don't understand.**

**- It's time to go inside. Let's make dinner together.**

**Please review!**


	3. Something New to See

**Hi! ^.^**

**Grr. This chapie's shorter than the last. Oh, well.**

**I don't own Hetalia. **

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"Can I come play with him again?" asked Lovina as they were driving to the villa from the market.

Julius frowned. "I don't think that's a good idea. What if he starts to bully you?"

"Then I bully him back. I'm not weak."

"Can you understand him?," Lovina stiffened at this. "His mother told me that he didn't know Italian."

"Of course I understand him bastard!" she faltered a bit, "Maybe not all of it, but I will eventually."

Luciana spoke up. "I have some Spanish learning books at home. You can read those if you want." Julius gave her a look.

"I-I can?" asked Lovina. Luciana nodded, "Then when I'm not busy, I'll take you to go play okay?"

Julius frowned once more. "Or you can stay at home; maybe school? We can enroll you- you won't have to learn Spanish until way later."

"I go with Mrs. Luciana." Lovina said without a second thought.

At this, Julius mentally went into a sad corner while Luciana cheered at successful victory.

(Next scene)

Lovina got out of the car and looked up in awe. The house was a wide two-story, and the drive way was especially spacious. Luciana looked at her and giggled. "It's big isn't it? Now come on, let's go inside; you can explore later." Lovina nodded and followed her inside.

Inside seemed even bigger to her; with the interior consisting of warm colors ranging from mahogany to crimson, with some sunshine mixed in. It made her feel at home. She looked around once more, trying to remember everything- the stairs on her left, the dining room connected to the living room. The kitchen was probably in the back somewhere.

Julius came inside with some luggage. "It's nice isn't it? There are about 6 rooms; there's two down here, and ours is upstairs with the other four."

Lovina looked at him, "Do your parents know?" she asked them, like they had bought a puppy in secret.

"Oh, they don't live with us," he said, closing the door behind him.

"I think anybody can tell that no one lives here except you guys, but do they know about me, bastard?"

"Nope. But they're coming next week to visit, so they'll know eventually. You don't have to worry."

'The hell I'll worry you bastard,' she thought in irritation, 'it's like I'm that piece of new furniture you want to surprise people with- and they'll probably be annoyed with it because it's either the wrong color or it's in the way!'

"Is something wrong?" asked Julius, noticing that she went quiet all of the sudden.

"It's nothing..." she mumbled. "I'm going to go see upstairs," she said aloud.

(Next scene)

'It's very big and long too, up here,' Lovina thought to herself as she walked around the second floor. As she stopped by the third room she saw Luciana. She looked around to see that it was a room made for a baby. 'Is that why she was in the hospital?' thought Lovina. She was about to go in until she noticed the look on Luciana's face. Lovina went out of the door's way and peeked in.

'She looks... really sad,' thought Lovina. Luciana was looking through some clothes, absentmindedly putting her hand on her stomach.

Lovina then looked away, and went into the next room, shutting the door quietly. She mimicked Luciana's hand and put her hand on her own stomach and frowned. 'Why is she so sad damn it?' And then she remembered the baby clothes and it dawned on her. She sat against the door and pulled her legs up towards her. 'I didn't know that,' she thought sadly, and remembered how Luciana acted when they left the hospital. 'She's a strong lady. I didn't even tell.'

Then her thoughts turned a sour direction. 'Am not a replacement am I?' Then she shook her head. 'No, they said they just didn't want to see me in foster care.' She then just stayed where she was, silently mourning for Luciana's loss.

Then she was met with determination. 'I'll just help her get stronger so she can have another one! It probably won't be the same but...'

"Lovina? Where are you?" Julius was calling her.

She went out of the room and closed the door shut behind her. "Here!"

"You can choose your room if you want!" he asked from the living room.

"Wait!" She ran back down the stairs and looked around the two rooms on the first floor.

The one near the stairs didn't fit with her so she went to the one near the kitchen.

"This one, is nice," she said aloud to herself. She remembered seeing the back door in the kitchen close by. 'I can escape quicker too,' she thought to herself. 'And when there's a fire, I can leave easily- after I save Mrs. Luciana and Mr. Julius-bastard.'

Then her thoughts drifted back to earlier. 'That's... that's it! I'm not a replacement! Nor I'm like that cute dog you can't help but love and spoil! I shall be their... security system! But if they buy one... then it'll be my sidekick! I'll protect them, it's the least I can do anyway; that's how I'll thank them.'

"Can I have this one?" she said to Julius, who conveniently came in.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah bastard," suddenly she radiated with confidence and stuck her chest out. "And when someone bad breaks in, I'll yell at the top of my lungs while I kick his balls out; it'll be my thanks to you!"

"Umm okay," he said awkwardly, "but please be careful."

'Why... why is she suddenly shining?' thought Julius who now stared at Lovina weirdly.

* * *

**^ and he comically sweatdrops - well, that's how I see it anyway.**

**I'll leave it off here. I had something else earlier, but I'll just stick with this.**

**Did... did you see what I did there at the end? No? Oh, well. *cough* title *cough***

**Haha, this now starts our main heroine's adventure into becoming the best human protection system she can be! But how will 'they' fit in this picture?**

**Don't worry, Antonio will be in the next chapter.**

**Julius is beginning to feel the 'Father' in him...**

**Please review!**


	4. Someone New to Meet

**Hi guys! Welcome to Chapter 4!**

**Here's some Child!Spamana, and a ?**

**Remember that she's not as tsundere in this environment. Just keep that in mind.**

**I'm quite proud of this chapter, I don't really know why.**

**I don't own Hetalia.**

* * *

It's been four days now, four days since she came here.

And she enjoyed every moment of it. It consisted of getting to know the property, it's employees(apparently it was their day off when she arrived), and of her caretakers. The employees seemed to like her, especially the two maids on duty of cleaning and cooking. And no one minded her cussing; Julius thought it was weird that no one seemed to care but oh well. Julius was out a lot during the day so she spent more time with Ms. Luciana.

Today, Ms. Luciana is going to take her to go see Antonio and she was going to speak Spanish to him. After reading through all the books of reading in general and then to learning Spanish within three days, she felt accomplished. Julius was skeptical at this, and kept quizzing her until he had to leave.

And now they were in the car, approaching the market.

(Next scene)

Lovina grabbed Luciana's hand and pulled her towards where she thought Antonio and his family lived. Luciana smiled down at her. 'I remember when I was this tiny and excited to see Julius.' And then she giggled a bit. 'If Antonio and Lovina become like us, Julius is going to throw a fit like my father did.'

"Oh, hello," says Antonio's mother, smiling as she looked down at Lovina, "he's playing by himself again in the alley."

"Oh, okay." Lovina went. Antonio's mother started to laugh and faced Luciana. "He has been moping ever since she left, the poor thing."

Luciana smiled and laughed as well. "She kept asking if she could come back, and even learned Spanish."

"Really?"

"Yes, she went through all the material, telling herself that she was going to surprise the bastard."

"Bastard?"

"That's how she talks- she doesn't mean like that. She calls everyone that once in a while; she doesn't remember where who she got it from, but it's a habit now for her."

"Oh, that's right. Your husband found her at a train station right? I heard about that."

"You did?"

"Yes, did you know there was a fight between two mafia heirs; they were the cause of the abrupt stop."

"Really?"

"People like that," she shook her head, "I wonder what they were fighting over."

"Even people like them understand what they're doing- they were probably fighting over something very important."

Lovina looked to see Antonio kicking the ball at the wall, again and again, with a bored expression on his face.

"Hey bastard!" she said in perfect Spanish.

"Lovi?" he turned to see her and smiled. "Lovi, you're back again!"

"Yeah! And what's with the Lovi?"

"It's cute! And short!"

"So you hate my long name?" She thought, 'My name's not that long... is it?'

"What? No, I love your name..."

"Then why Lovi?"

He scratched the back of his head and blushed a little, "Well, you're my friend, so a nickname? You can all me 'Toni' if you want..."

'A nickname huh?' she thought. "Okay then... Toni." She warm all of the sudden, and she didn't know why.

He smiled at her, "Let's play, Lovi!"

"Okay bastard."

"Oh!" he seemed to realize something. "What?" asked Lovina.

"You're speaking Spanish!"

Lovina grinned, "Yeah bastard! I am! You finally noticed!"

And they started to play, and this lasted for a good two hours, smiling and laughing.

"Did you have fun?" asked Julius.

"Of course bastard! You think I wouldn't have fun?"

"Well, boys his age tend to be rough."

"Says the man who picked flowers with his 'forever beloved' at that rough age, bastard." At this, Julius blushed, while Luciana laughed with the attending maids.

They were making dinner right now, and Lovina was learning the fundamentals of making pasta. And making sauce- with tomatoes.

Tomatoes were officially her favorite thing in the world. It wasn't because Antonio told her what is was. It also wasn't because it was the first thing they ate together. Nope, it wasn't any of those things. She just loved it- she didn't have to explain anything to anyone. Really, she didn't.

"Can I play with him again tomorrow?" Julius stiffened at this. "Yeah... of course you can." He really didn't want her to go play with him, because... he really didn't know why.

"Oh," said one of the attending maids, "aren't your parents coming in tomorrow?"

"Oh, that's good," said Lovina, "then I can just be at Toni's until they leave."

"Sometimes they stay the night."

"Then I'll just stay with him."

"No," said Julius, "We're going to come take you back and introduce you to them."

Lovina sighed. "Fine bastard. Have it your way, but I get two extra hours to play!"

Now Julius sighed. "Fine..."

Luciana and the attending maids simply smiled at this developing father-daughter relationship.

(? A three people conversation)

"What? You're breaking off from us?" He seriously wondered what was going through his son's mind.

"Yeah, I'm going for the community part now; maybe run a restaurant too. Roberto should get what he has been working hard for these past years."

"Don..."

"But what about-"

"It's not worth it, the position. I lost my f***ing daughter- your other granddaughter because of it, now where is she?"

"It was my fault Don. Feliciana kept telling me to go back but, I thought you were going to come after me and get her. So I thought... I would give you that chance."

"That's bull Rob, and you know it. You never cared for her; she was better off in an orphanage, and you still kept her away from me!"

"..." He just watched the whole exchange between his sons carefully.

"Even Feliciana hates you now- you know that right bastard? You didn't even tell her, did you? That her 'sister' is her f*** cousin! You didn't have to keep that from her! Were you ashamed of me and my family?"

"No! I'm not! But..."

He continued to watch this exchange, and looked down at his lap.

It looked like a big box. It was; and it was filled with candy.

He opened the lid carefully, and looked inside with sad eyes; he didn't want his youngest son to be so secretive with his loved ones, but for that to happen, he had to be secretive with his loved ones as well.

He put his hand in as to not let his boys see two tiny hands hand him candy.

A tiny, frail, and gentle hand that was going to kick her father's ass someday.

* * *

**Please review!**


	5. Growing strong

**Hello!**

**Antonio is 7 and Lovina is 5.**

**I wondered if I should add extra pairings for fun... since GerIta and PruCan is a ways away until Antonio goes... but I don't know...**

**I don't own Hetalia.**

* * *

"So they're coming? Your grandparents?" Lovina was with Antonio for most of the day, and right now they were in his room, eating lunch on the floor.

"They're not my grandparents, you jerk. Remember, they took me in when a guy that was my godfather left me at the train station to die."

"Oh." He remembered now what his mother told him about that train story and frowned a bit. "Do you remember anything?"

Lovina bit off a piece of her sandwich and thought about it. "Smoke, some voices, and it was hard to talk," she paused a bit, "I think that's it. Sometimes it hurts at night to remember, so I just don't try anymore. Mr. Julius and Mrs. Luciana says I don't have to remember."

He smiled. "That's good. Forget all the bad things~Want me to say the special charm I learned from Mama?"

"What's that, bastard?"

He put down his sandwich and held out his arms. "Fusososo~" Lovina stared dumbfounded, suddenly having the urge to smile. "The hell?" He stared at her, smiling, "It's a cheer up charm~"

She looked away, "I-it's really stupid, you jerk! But," she noticed him saddening, "I-it works! Really..." He brightened up again and looked at her as if he wanted her to continue. 'What else am I supposed to say about it?' she thought.

She changed the conversation, "Um, Tonio do you any Italian yet?"

He went along with it. "A little. But I'm surprised Lovi, you know a lot of Spanish!"

"You think so? Oh, Julius-bastard tells me I should go to school. Is it fun?" She finished the last bit of her sandwich.

"I don't know. Mama teaches me here, she doesn't want me to go to school. Papa is okay with it, but he wants me to go to this international boarding school when I turn 13."

"Oh... A boarding school?"

"Yeah, when I go in there, I can only visit on holidays and come home in the summer. But I'm sure it'll be fun."

"Really bastard?" She didn't like the thought of him off somewhere making new friends- especially since he was her only friend.

"Yes, yes~ Maybe your Papa will let you go with me!"

She frowned. "I don't know- and he's not my Papa! And the bastard wants me to stay home and go to school here."

"Oh..." He frowned a bit and finished his sandwich thoughtfully. He didn't want her to go to school. If she did, she wouldn't be able to see him a lot as she did now.

(With the not Lovina's parents...)

"Hi Mama! Papa!" Luciana kissed her parents on the cheeks and hugged them. She did the same to her in-laws, Julius was out at work. The maids and a newly employed butler that is also the gardener nodded and took their luggage up into the open rooms.

Luciana's mother, Benedetta, an older aged version of her daughter with darker hair, looked apologetically to her daugher. "We sorry we weren't there when-"

"It's okay Mama," says Luciana, "Let's all go inside now yes? We made some coffee and tea if you want."

"Yes, thank you!" says Karen, Julius's mother of the French-American descent; a pleasant woman with light brown hair and blue eyes. His father, Alberto, a man with dark hair and brown eyes, nodded in thanks as well, "Thanks Lucia!" he ruffled her hair, just as if she was a little girl again. Luciana shooed his hand away, trying to fix her hair again; at this her father, Cornelio, laughed and did the same, "Just like old times!"

Luciana smiled at this- they were in the house now- and went to go get the beverages. As she was doing this, everybody looked around, seeming to sense something different about the house's environment.

"Something is off..." Cornelio said, thoughtfully stroking his growing, graying beard. The maids and one butler, who had come down from putting the luggage up, stiffened and looked to Luciana, who stiffened as well.

"I-is that so?" asked Luciana. She looked to the clock to see that there were still three more hours until Lovina had to come home.

_Flashback~_

_"You can't tell them about me!" Lovina was on her bed now arms folded to her chest, with the maids happily brushing both sides of her head. Lovina didn't like it, but if it made them happy to brush her hair... Luciana was organizing her clothes for tomorrow._

_"Eh, why?"_

_"I want to see how long I can avoid them. So don't tell them."_

_"You don't want to meet them?"_

_"It's not like I don't... But I just want to see how long, so don't tell them."_

_"But-"_

_"Please?"_

_Luciana sighed. "Okay, I'll try not to."_

_"Yes!" Lovina looked up at the maids, "You guys don't tell them either, and that gardener can't either." They nodded, smiling down at the little girl._

_Flashback over..._

"Yes...," Karen looked at one of the maids and smiled, "Can you tell me... Alessa was it? Did something change?" At this, Alessa - a short brown haired, browned eyed young woman - shook her head frantically, "No, no-nothing is different. Not at all!"

"Is that so?" Karen got up, "I'll go see for myself." Clara, the other maid with long brown braids, noticed and went to grab the cups Luciana was pouring tea and coffee into and passed them around. Karen sat back down to drink, temporarily distracted; Clara sighed in relief and lightly glared at Alessa, who scratched her head nervously, mouthing a 'sorry'.

The butler shifted around, having nothing to do. Finally, he decided to go back outside and mess with the yard a bit, as he was also the gardener. He'll just wait out here until he was called for, and decided to pluck some weeds.

(Back with Lovi and Tonio sometime later)

"Mama!" Antonio's mother, Maria, looked to see her son run up to her. "Yes, Antonio?"

"Can Lovi sleep over?"

"No, she can't. Luciana is coming back to pick her up in one more hour."

Her son frowned at this and just ran back to where he had come from; Maria just smiled, going back to her produce.

"Lovi!" Lovina looked up from where she was sitting in Antonio's room. "What, bastard?"

"You have one more hour!"

"Wh-what? But the sun is still up!"

"Hide in my closet!"

"What?"

"When they realize you're missing, they'll look somewhere else!"

"Stupid! The closet is the first place they'll look!"

"What? Really?"

"Yeah, you bastard!"

"Oh..." he sat down next to her, having given up trying to hide her, "Then you'll come tomorrow?"

"I don't think so," She looked to see Antonio sadden, "It's not like I've been gone before, Tonio!"

"But I'll miss you Lovi~" She blushed and looked away. Then they heard Maria downstairs, her voice in full clarity, "Lovina, Julius is here to pick you up!"

"What? But there's still an hour left!" yelled Antonio.

"Curse you bastard!" yelled Lovina.

Then they heard Maria laughing, "Just kidding guys!"

"What?"

"Aww, you two reacted like I thought you would!"

"You're so mean Mama!"

"You jerk!"

Maria just continued to laugh.

(With the not Lovi's biological family)

Julius came home to see that his parents had come to stay for a while like he thought they would. Before he could engage in conversation, Luciana pulled him away a bit.

"What is it Lu?" She pulled him into the kitchen.

"Lovina wants to see how long she can avoid them and neglected to tell you."

"But how is-"

"I'm going to pick her up, so don't say anything. At all."

"But don't you-"

"Yes, I know. But... Lovina seemed really intent on this so I'll give her a chance."

Julius sighed. "I'll go along with it; but how is a little five year old going to avoid four adults?"

"That's what I thought, so I wanted to see how she is going to do it."

"I'll just go sit with them then- have they been here long?"

"Nope not that long, but they feel that she has been here."

"Really?"

"Like a presence- Papa thinks there's a ghost here," she giggled.

As they went back out into the living room, they spotted Cornelio inspecting the television. "What are you doing?" asked Julius.

"The ghost might be in this television, like that one movie," he poked at it like it was real.

Luciana looked at the time to see that she had to go pick up Lovina now and went to get the keys. "Where are you going Lucia?" asked Benedetta.

"Ah, to the store to get... um-"

Alessa, who felt like she hasn't helped much, decided to speak up- and ended up yelling in her haste. "TOMATOES!" Everyone stared at her like she popped a balloon, while Clara facepalmed; the gardener-butler outside just sighed.

"Yes! I'm going the store to get... tomatoes." And she left, leaving an awkward silence.

(With Lovi and Tonio~)

Lovina waited by the tomato stand for Luciana to come get her with Antonio by her side, doing some math homework courtesy of his mother. Antonio noticed she was bored so he quizzed her knowledge.

"12x3?"

"36."

"12x4?"

"48."

"2x11?"

"22."

He eyed her mischievously, "23x12?"

"276."

"Ha- Oh, you're right! And you're two years younger than me! You're so smart Lovi~"

She blushed at the compliment. "Sh-shut up..."

"Lovina!" They looked up to see Luciana running up to them. "Antonio where is your mother?"

Hearing what was happening, Maria came out. "Yes?"

"I need to buy some tomatoes."

"Eh? But you bought some yesterday."

"Yes, I know- but they think I'm here to buy tomatoes."

"Oh, okay then; I'll just give you five."

"Thank you!" She faced Lovina and Antonio now, "How are you guys?"

"Good! Can Lovi come tomorrow?" asked Antonio.

"We'll see; Julius might want to spend time with her tomorrow."

Antonio frowned at this, while Lovina muttered, "That bastard."

Maria handed the tomatoes in a bag over to Luciana, "Come now, you have the day after next, and after. And if Lovina can't come over tomorrow, you can just study."

After Luciana payed for the produce, she turned to Lovina, "Shall we go?"

"Okay," she faced Antonio and Maria, "See you." She got up and left, leaving Maria snickering at her son's saddening face amusingly and affectionately. "Let's go inside Antonio and make your favorite, okay?" Seeing that he was still sad, she held out her hands, "Fusososo~ Fusososo~"

He looked at her and sighed before smiling brightly, "Okay~"

(Back at the house that's not Antonio's house~)

Luciana looked to see Lovina going towards the back of the house as they got off the car. "Where are you going Lovina?" Lovina put a finger to her lip and gestured for her to go inside without her. Luciana nodded and went inside, with a bag of five tomatoes.

"Hi," she gave the tomatoes to Clara, "Thank you," and walked into the living room, seeing everybody still sitting on the couch. "Hi, have I been long?"

Cornelio patted to a seat right beside him, "Sit next to Papa?"

She giggled, "Okay." Just as she sat, Alessa who was next to the kitchen entrance, heard a noise and went to investigate.

Seeing that the noise came from Lovina's room, Alessa figured that it was Lovina and went in to check. "Lov?" She looked in to see Lovina tapping on the window and went to open it. "Thanks bastard," Lovina said as she came in and plopped on her bed.

"You're welcome Lov~ I'll bring in dinner when we're done with it okay?"

"Okay. Can you bring in some books in here if you can? I think it's going to be a while."

"I will," and she left the room to retrieve some.

Alessa was glad there were two stairs; she didn't want to cross the living room. As she went into the study she looked around to see what kind of books would keep Lovina busy. 'Let's see,' thought Alessa, 'Lov's pretty smart for a five year old...'

"..."

She ended up carrying seven medium-thick books back with her, hoping that Lovina will like them.

* * *

**How was that? I'll just stop here. Sorry if you hate OC's, but I had fun thinking of names, etc.**

**I thought I would put that "Fusososo" in, it was so cute!**

**Cornelio and Benedetta Ranalli- Luciana's parents. All Italian.**

**Karen and Alberto Santos- Julius's parents. Karen is French-American, and Alberto is Italian.**

**Clara- long brunette in braids with green eyes. Poised and thoughtful, but she's scared of insects.**

**Alessa- Short haired brunette with brown eyes. Clumsy and nervous, but she can catch anything that falls.**

**^ They can clean, cook, save, wash, dry... anything that is asked of them, as long as they can do it. They're 13 years old; best friends whose families work with the Santos. Quite mature for their age.**

**- The butler that is also a gardener will be named next chapter. But he is a boy, dark haired and green eyed, age 15. He thinks of Clara and Alessa like younger sisters.**

**Oh, why they're so young? Well...**

**Please review!**


	6. Learning Expands

**I don't own Hetalia.**

**- Right now, the story is that: After losing her most of her memories at a train station at 5yrs. old, Lovina restarts her life. **

**- Now watch/imagine/read as she is loved by her new 'family' and loves them back just as much in the coming chapters...**

**- Rarely, I read stories about Lovina/Lovino having a good childhood, etc. So I tried my hand at making a story where she has a good one. Of course the beginning is a bit sad, but...**

**- Feli and the others won't really come in until around chapter 13 or so.**

**- I leave the design of the clothes up to your imagination.**

**On the other hand...**

**Happy reading!**

* * *

After dinner, with maids bringing her food in secret, everybody chatted and went off to do whatever they did before they went to sleep. Lovina closed the book she was reading and got off her bed. _I'm thirsty... _

She opened her door slowly and peeked out; the darkness assured her that there was no one. She went out and closed the door softly behind her before walking to the kitchen. As she got to the kitchen and brought out a cup, she suddenly heard a door open. She automatically assumed that it was one of the parents.

_Use the bathroom up there! Use the bathroom up there!_ She chanted in her head. When she heard the steps come down the stairs she knew her chants didn't work and hid behind the counter at an angle where someone wouldn't see her when they turned on the lights.

She continued to listen to the footsteps, as they came closer and closer... To her surprise, whoever they were didn't turn on the lights. For a while, it was just footsteps walking around to nowhere in particular. Wondering what the person was doing, she looked up from behind the counter to see what it was.

It was one of the parents she assumed was... Cornelio? As far as she knew from what the maids told her, the one with the growing beard was Cornelio so that must be him. She watched as he circled the couch before going to the television, tapping on it from behind repeatedly. _Is he... on medicine or something? _thought Lovina. Figuring that he wouldn't see her in the dark, she went to behind the couch and tried to look at him clearly.

... _What the hell?! _She looked to see that his eyes were closed, and that he was smiling like an idiot as he tapped the back of the television. _Does the bastard think its a plump tomato or something? _She went closer to him, to where she stood next to him.

She looked at him thoughtfully before tugging on his pajama pants. Slowly, his eyes opened and looked down at her, eyes clouded in sleepiness. He cocked his head to the side, "So there is a ghost? Is it you?"

She looked at him confused before understanding and nodded; she remembered what the maids had told her about earlier. "Yea- yes. Yes I am." Then she curtsied in her nightgown that Mrs. Luciana gave her; she might as well play along as a polite ghost for the old man.

He stepped back a little, stunned. "I was right!" Then he regained some composure in his dream-like state. "Why do you inhabit my daughter's television?"

"I... I like television?" To her surprise and amusement, he nodded in agreement.

"I relate, it is a fascinating creation. What holds you here?"

"Oh, um... I don't remember, it's all blurry." _That's not a lie...__  
_

"I understand. You do seem rather young for a ghost... and you don't seem to carry any anguish or distress.

"Why would I?" she asked, "Mrs. Luciana and Mr. Julius take really good care of me." _Not a lie either..._

He smiled at her and looked at the television. "Well, Luci does tend to wipe the dust away from everything and keep it in good condition."

"Yea- yes, yes she does. Um, let's walk to your room..." she grabbed his hands and led him upstairs.

"You know this house very well," he says, "How long were you here?"

"... Since last week or some days ago. It's long enough for me to explore everywhere."

"Hmm..." he nodded. As they went towards the rooms, one of the doors opened. Panicked, she let go of Cornelio's hand and ran off. "Cornelius?" said Benedetta as she looked to see her husband looking back towards where Lovina had run off to. When she didn't get a answer she went up and shook him gently. "Cornelio?"

He went out of his daze and looked down at his wife. "Bene?"

"Ah, I think you were sleep walking again."

"Oh my, again?" Then he remembered, "I was right my dear!"

"What is it?"

"There is a ghost!"

"Oh, Lio, it must have been a dream."

"I saw it Bene! It was a little girl and she possesses the television! She wasn't evil though- she was a nice child... And she led me back up here."

"Well that's nice," she grabbed his hand and walked into the room, "You can tell all of us in the morning."

When she heard the door close, Lovina took the opportunity to get her glass of water. After she filled her cup, she walked back into her room and resumed reading.

- The next morning...

"You guys are going where?" asked Julius. They were having breakfast, with Lovina still sleeping from staying up until three.

"It's this two day relaxation at... well, it's Greek, I know that. But we'll be back," said Karen.

After they had packed up for two days and left, Lovina had woken up and came out into the living room. Julius also went to work, while Alessa and Clara went with Luciana to shop. Lovina frowned, seeing no one; then she noticed that someone was sleeping on the couch. She went to see that it was the gardener-butler, and nudged him awake.

His eyes opened and he turned his head to her, "Yes?"

"Where did they go, bastard?"

"Oh?" he sat up and stretched, "Well, it's eleven and they all went shopping except for the Mister, who went to work."

"Hmph," she went to sit on the couch and looked at him, "If I get dressed, can you take me to see Tonio?"

"Hmm? I don't think Missus would like that. They went shopping for clothes and I think they want to play dress up."

"Only for a little bit."

"No. Now get dressed; I'm going to teach you how to get up on the roof."

"..." _Why the hell is he going to teach a five year old how to reach the roof of a almost three story house? Well, it would be helpful for later..._

"...?"

"Can I eat first before we do that, bastard?"

"No, what if you throw up?"

"You got a point there, bastard."

- Some time later in the afternoon...

Julius came out of his car; he decided to spend his lunch at home. Feeling the nice weather he decided to look up to the sky... bad idea.

His eyes ended up on the roof of the house because a small hat landed on in front of him. That's when he saw it-

His butler-gardener in a frilly apron, waving at him from the roof. Julius frowned in confusion before waving back and heading inside. _Well, that was odd._

After he headed inside, Lovina peeked out from behind the butler. "Is he gone?"

"Yeah. Man, that was close. Now, can you remember how to get up here?"

"Yeah, bastard."

"Good. Now, let's get down before he gets suspicious..."

Julius was sitting down eating a sandwich as Lovina came in with the butler wearing a cute sun dress. "Oh, hello. I thought you were out with Luci..." He trailed off.

"What, bastard?"

"Adriano was on the roof- where were you?"

"Oh... I was watching from the back."

"Is that so? I can see the back from here and I didn't see you."

"I was in the back, on the side of the house."

"Hmm... Well okay," he pointed to the hat next to him on the counter, "Then why was your hat with Adriano?"

Adriano answered for her, "It was very sunny, and I needed protection."

"Why not wear sunscreen?"

Lovina answered, "It was only for a little bit, bastard." It was at this moment when the girls came through the door with bags in their arms.

Alessa put her bags on the ground and saw Lovina in the sun dress. "Wah~ You're so cute!" She went and picked up Lovina in a hug.

"B-bastard! I can't breathe! And I'm hungry, let me go eat!"

"Aww... Lovina didn't get to eat yet? I'll go whip something up for you!" She put Lovina down and went to prepare something.

Clara eyed Adriano, "You didn't feed her?"

"She... wasn't hungry until now." No way in Hell he was going to tell them that he taught a five-year old how to climb up to the roof of an almost three-story house. In his defense, the child went along with it; but that doesn't really help in this situation.

Julius looked at Lovina, "What did you eat this morning?"

She shrugged, "Nothing. Wasn't hungry." Luciana looked at her worriedly, "That's not good- that's why you shouldn't be staying up reading."

"Sorry," she mumbled. "Oh, yeah, what's wrong with your papa?"

"Hmm? Oh, that's normal. He's always been fascinated with TV's and computers."

"...Okay." She meant the sleep walking, but she let it slide and began to eat the sandwich Alessa made for her.

Clara looked at Adriano up and down, "Why are you wearing an apron? And the one with frills."

"...I felt like it?" Lovina kept getting scared each time they reached six feet up, so he wore it to distract her from looking down.

Clara bit back a laugh, "Well, I guess it looks good on you."

"Thanks."

- Later that afternoon...

"Can I go now?" Lovina was wearing... what is this? The twentieth outfit?

"Hehe... Now?" said Alessa. They had put on the cutest red sun dress.

"Yeah, sooner the better."

Luciana held back a smile and carried her up. "Okay, let's go."

She put her fist in the air in triumph and Clara held back a laugh, while Adriano was messing around with a green headband- Julius had went back to work.

It was when they arrived to the market Lovina had a realization. "What the hell?! You let me out wearing this?"

Alessa laughed and wore a cat grin, "You didn't realize that until now?" Adriano was with them as well and put the headband on Lovina as she crossed her arms, angry and embarrassed.

"I'm not going."

"What? But we're here now," said Luciana.

"No." At this point, Adriano came out of the car and went to Lovina's side, and proceeded to carry her out. "No! Let me go, bastard!"

"Nah," he walked into the market, with the girls following.

At this point, Lovina agreed to go along with it if she got a piggyback ride and Adriano complied.

Antonio sat near the stand, just staring at the ground in a bored manner. Maria looked down at her son, "It's not like she moved away to America or something."

"It's boring..."

"Ah, then make some new friends."

"No! They always complain about getting their clothes dirty or something..."

"Oh? Then I suggest you look up." He listened and looked up, "Wha-" He paused and just stared, a light blush spreading on his cheeks.

When Lovina saw Antonio, she forced Adriano to put her back on the ground and she ran to him. "Hey bastard! Let's go play somewhere!" When she didn't get an answer she began to shake him, "Bastard? Tonio?" Not getting a response she looked up at Maria, "What's wrong with him?"

Maria laughed, "Oh, not much. But why so dressed up?"

"Oh," she glared at the woman and girls behind her, "_They_ put it on me."

Luciana smiled, "Isn't she adorable?"

"Yeah, she almost looks like a-"

"Tomato!" Antonio interjected as he glomped Lovina, and rubbed his cheek against hers, "Lovi, you're so cute! Just like a tomato~"

She tried to push him away, blushing furiously, "No I don't! Let me go, bastard!"

"Aww~ Now you're really like a tomato, Lovi!"

"No I'm not! Shut up, tomato-bastard!"

Adriano then had a theory and decided to test it out. He picked up Lovina and stared down at Antonio.

"..." The girls looked at Adriano and back to Antonio.

"..."

Slowly, they felt the atmosphere change and looked around uncomfortably. Then they looked at Antonio to see that he was glaring at Adriano, who stared back while he ran his hand through the back of Lovina's hair like a creeper.

_Ah,_ thought Maria, looking at her son. _Just like his father..._

Meanwhile, Lovina stared out into the market, oblivious to what was happening. _So this is what it's like, being tall. Will I ever be this tall? _She looked at some women next to their husbands, _I guess I'll never be that tall as a man..._She looked up to the sky. _Bye, my dreams of being as tall as 5'8''. I guess I'll just rely on high heels when I get older. _Then she looked back to see that everyone was quiet.

"...What's everyone staring at?" She looked at Adriano, "Can I go down now? I want to play, bastard." When he put her down, Antonio stared for a bit and then broke into a smile.

"What do you want to play, Lovi?"

"Let's just play with the ball."

Antonio frowned. "What if you get dirty?"

"Who cares? I want to kick something." Antonio smiled and hugged Lovina again, "This is why you're my best friend, Lovi~"

"Wha- Let me go, bastard!"

- Later in the evening...

Adriano was out in the garden behind the house with Lovina as the girls were preparing dinner. "Now, tomorrow I'm going to teach you how to hot wire a car."

"Can you teach me how to drive too?"

"Now now, one step at a time."

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**Please review~**


	7. Thinking More

**Hi! Hope you have a good time reading~**

**In this chapter:**

**- A child!Spamana moment**

**- Some cheesy and corny moments...**

**Oh, and football is soccer.**

**For memory:**

**T for language~**

**Adriano is 15, Clara and Alessa are 13...**

**Antonio is 7, Lovina is 5...**

**I don't own Hetalia and I don't wish to. I just liking using the characters in different AU's.**

* * *

Adriano's eye twitched. He did not intend for this to-

"I'll ask again. What are you doing Adriano?" Alessa asks him again from the door going into the house from the garage. He was teaching Lovina how to hot wire a car using his own; he drives to the Santos' household each morning for work... when he knows he isn't going to be caught by the police since he isn't of legal age.

You see, his family owns a landscaping service and gardening magazine; as the sole heir, his parents want him to experience work- which was why he was assigned to the Santos' household ever since he was ten. And when their son Julius married and moved out on his own, he tagged along with them- along with Alessa and Clara.

He... it wasn't like he didn't want to take over the family business- he just wanted to do more things before he grows up and takes over. Which is why he turned to his uncles and aunts who wasn't working with the family business, doing their own thing.

20 minutes before Alessa came through the door...

_"Oy, Adriano."_

_"Hmm?" He opened the driver's side of the door and put Lovina inside to the passenger's side._

_"Who taught you how to do this...?"_

_"Oh, my uncle a few weeks ago before you came..."_

_"Just weeks ago?"_

_"Yes... I learn fast, just like you."_

_"Really, bastard?"  
_

_"Umm Hmm..." he pinched her left cheek, "It's a secret though, okay little lady?"_

_He let go and she rubbed her cheek with a scowl on her face, "Fine, you jerk." _

_After a pause while he brought out a screwdriver she spoke again, "Why are you teaching me this anyway?"_

_"You can say... it's on my bucket list."_

_"To teach a five year old...?"_

_"No, to pass on my knowledge to a younger sibling."_

_"But I'm not-"_

_"Yes I know but you're like one; Alessa and Clara are too but I don't think they'll want to learn this and are fast enough to learn..."_

_"Why won't they want to learn this? It'll be handy if they get kidnapped or something..."_

_"That's what I thought too, which is why I'm teaching you."_

_"What? I might get kidnapped? Why?"_

_"Well, you're cute and your parents are rich."_

_"They're not my parents, bastard."_

_"Ouch. Well, to them they are- and other people are going to think that too and use you for ransom."_

_"Hmph, I'm not their kid- I'm their puppy and security system."_

_He rose his eyebrows at her, "Puppy?"_

_"Yeah you see, you take care of a puppy but it does nothing for you but be there," she looked down and pouted, "Sometimes it annoys you, sometimes it makes you happy and that's it." _

_"Oh? And what about the security system part?"_

_"I'm small and fast; when someone breaks in or a fire starts, I'll save them!"_

_He chuckled, "You may be fast, but are you strong enough to carry them if they faint?"_

_"...Maybe," she mumbled._

_"Whatever you say Lovina; now come here, with this screwdriver we shall..."_

_Seconds before Alessa came in..._

_"Good- now we're going to do that one more time and then do it again later. Then afterwards I'm going to teach you how to-"_

_"Drive?"_

_"No. I'm going to teach you how to jump out of a car correctly and roll."_

_"Then drive?"_

_He sighed and patted her head, "That will wait until you're seven."_

_"Why seven?"_

_"Because-" The door leading into the house opened, "Hide!" Lovina nodded and scrambled down in front of the passenger seat out of sight from the person who opened the door._

_"What are you doing Adriano?" asked Alessa from the doorway. _

_"Why are you here? I thought you had to be somewhere with your parents." Julius had gone to work and Luciana went out somewhere with her friends; Clara went home, as did Alessa on their parents' request, leaving him and Lovina by themselves._

_"Their work called them back so they dropped me off. I think Clara might still be with her mama and papa though. So where's Lovina?"_

_"Her room..."_

_"Nope, I checked in there," she put her hands to her hips, "And you're supposed to be with her at all times." _

_"I've only just got in here, maybe she ran out into the garden in the back?"_

_"Checked there already- And you haven't answered my first question."_

...

Which brings us to right now.

"I forgot something so..."

"Then you should have Lovina with you." At this, Lovina popped up and waved. Then she got out and ran to Alessa.

"Surprise...?" said Adriano in question format. He got out of the car as well and walked to them.

"Oh, you were hiding~" she lifted up Lovina and hugged her, "Are you hungry? Big sister Alessa will cook you something~"

"No, I'm good. Can I go play with Toni?"

"Ehh? Why?! You don't want to play with us?"

"You can play football with me and Toni."

"I don't think he's going to like that..."

"It'll be okay, it's normally just us. There's room for two more."

"Which is exactly why he isn't going to like that," said Adriano.

Lovina frowned and looked at them questioningly and he thought of something. "Okay, we'll go."

Alessa looked at him confused, "What?" He just hushed her and gestured everyone to the car.

* * *

"You finished?" asked Maria as Antonio handed her a sheet.

"Yes!"

She smiled at him, "Then you're done for the day; you can go play now."

"Do you think Lovi's going to come today?"

"Maybe," she giggled, "You like her don't you?"

"Of course~ She's my best friend!"

"Like a little sister?"

"..."

"...? Antonio?" She said as her son looked down for a moment in thought.

Then he brought up his head again with a smile. "No. She's my best friend!"

She smiled at him, "That's your answer?"

"Yes!"

She ruffled his head with a grin, "That's my little boy~"

As they walked outside, Maria kissed her husband on the cheek, who was running the tomato stand for the moment. Antonio's father, Amaranto, preferred to be in the back talking to his tomatoes, but when Antonio is at 'school' he runs the stand until 'school' is over.

Amaranto looked down at his son and ruffled his hair, "So, how did-"

"Lovi~" In a flash Antonio sped off, surprising Amaranto. When he looked to see who 'Lovi' was, he turned to his wife, "So, she is the infamous Lovina?"

Maria giggled, "Yes." Together they watched their son glomp his best friend.

"Bastard! Get off!"

"But I missed you~" Then he looked up, saw Adriano, and pulled away, frowning.

"Hello again," said Adriano, resisting his urge to laugh at the sight of Antonio's frowning. Alessa began to be wary of the two of them and went to stand next to Maria. Since Lovina had never met Amaranto before, she went up to him.

"Are you Antonio's papa?"

"Yes, the one and only."

"Hmm..."

"Is something wrong?"

"No. You're just what I expected you to be, bastard."

"Oh? That's quite the mouth you have."

"Yeah, I know. Sorry."

"No, it's fine- it has a charm to it."

Adriano went up to Lovina and carried her in his arms and looked down at Antonio with mischief in his eyes. As expected, Antonio began to glare at him and he smiled; he was beginning to love messing with Antonio.

Meanwhile, Lovina looked between the boys with an unamused expression on her face. "Are we going to play football or not?"

"Oh," said Adriano, "Can I play too?"

"Sure," said Lovina, while Antonio frowned and kicked the ground a bit. Seeing this, Lovina turned to Alessa, "You'll play with us too?"

"Eh?" Alessa looked warily at Antonio before nodding, "Okay..."

"Good; then it can be a two on two." She prodded Adriano to put her down and then she went up to Antonio, "We'll be in a team, okay bastard?"

"Okay!" said Antonio happily.

"Oh, but that's not fair," said Adriano, "That's like two dogs against two cats; it would be Antonio and Alessa and then you and me, right _Lovi_?"

Antonio glared at him again at the nickname while the adults watched, amused. Lovina put her hands to her hips and frowned at him, "No."

He rose an eyebrow at her, "No?"

"Yeah, because Antonio and Alessa are more like a dog and we are cats, so we _are_ even," she looked at Alessa, "Cute dogs."

"Aww, thanks Lov~" said Alessa.

This is when Adriano thought of something, "Then I have a bet."

"What?" asked Lovina.

"If we win, you can't come over for a month."

"What?!" said Antonio, "No-"

"Bring it, bastard!"

* * *

They are now in the alley way, with Alessa and Adriano on one side, and Antonio and Lovina on the other, towards the stands. Alessa looked between Antonio and Lovina worriedly; Lovina looked pumped while Antonio seemed to look miserable, smiling only when Lovina talked to him. Adriano had the ball in his hand and gazed at Antonio lazily.

"Okay, here's the deal," said Adriano, "If we get the ball past between you two- let's say four times- you lose and vice versa. Got it?"

At first, the game started out with no score; when Adriano aimed at them, Antonio kicked away fiercely, to the point where it became too intense for Alessa, who flinched and moved away each time he kicked at them. Lovina was beginning to get irritated; Antonio kept getting in her way, so far, no one was scoring because it went out-of-bounds, and Adriano was a good blocker.

"Bastard, why won't you let me kick?!" At this, Antonio stopped and Adriano kicked at them. Lovina grinned and kicked the ball back at them, finally earning a score for their team. "Finally!" She frowned at Antonio, "What's with you? Isn't this fun?"

He blinked at her, "What?" Then she smacked him on the head.

"Have some f***in' fun, will you?!"

"L-lovi..."

"Sorry. But really, you're acting weird." Then a ball zoomed past between them.

"We're still playing," said Adriano.

"What if you hit them?!" said Alessa worriedly.

"I never miss," he said simply.

"Tch, now we're tied," said Lovina, "So try to score when it comes to your end, okay bastard?"

"But Lovi... what if we lose?"

"We won't."

"But if we do... it's weird not seeing you everyday." As he was saying this, Lovina managed to get a score.

"Tonio, we just met a few weeks ago."

"But... You're my best friend! I feel sad now when you're gone." this time, Adriano got a score and Lovina cursed.

"I... I feel sad sometimes too, bastard. But that is no excuse! Right now we are going to lose if you keep acting stupid!"

"Lovi..." At this point, Adriano had one foot on the ball and watched their conversation; Alessa was thirsty so she went off to buy a drink.

"Do you want us to lose?"

"No, but-"

"No buts! I want to see you tomorrow so we better win, dammit!" Adriano then felt like something was going to happen, so he went into place and prepared to kick.

"...You want to see me tomorrow?"

"...Of course," she looked away with a slight blush, "You're my best friend too."

Antonio then remembered back to earlier and asked hesitantly, "Like a brother?"

She looked at him confusingly and thought about it. "...No, that's what Adriano is."

He smiled at this like an idiot and hugged her, "I'm so happy, Lovi~"

"Bastard- we're in the middle of a game!"

_Hmm, now? Yes, right now should do, _thought Adriano, as he kicked the ball at them, mostly aimed at Lovina because he wondered if he was right about what would happen when it gets within an inch of her. When the ball came close, Antonio's eye widened and then narrowed; he pulled away from Lovina and kicked it as hard as he could. Adriano cocked his head to the side, the ball going past him by a hair; this was the reaction he was expecting from the little boy.

"Hah, you finally got a score Tonio!"

"..."

"...? Tonio?"

"Oh? Oh, I did Lovi!"

"Hah," she looked at Adriano, "One more score and we win!"

"Ah, we'll see, little lady, we'll see."

Alessa had come back along with gelato, and was waiting on the sidelines.

As Adriano kicked back at them, Lovina countered back and this went on for many seconds, switching between Antonio and Lovina as Adriano kicked back with ease.

* * *

"Wasn't it good?" asked Alessa. They were back at the Santos' household now, and it was almost evening.

"Well, it wasn't bad," said Lovina.

"Wait until you taste Clara's," said Adriano.

"That's mean Adriano!"

"How bad is it, bastard?"

"Lov, don't believe him!"

"Yes, I'm just playing around."

When they entered the house, Alessa turned to Lovina, "Go ahead and prepare for a bath okay? Then after that we'll prepare dinner together when Miss Luciana comes home~"

"Okay." When Lovina ran off to her room, Alessa turned to her brother figure.

"I thought you never missed."

"I don't."

"I don't get it..."

"Ah," he patted her head, "You don't get it? I _never_ miss. Never."

She frowned a bit in confusion before giggling in understanding, "Oh, I get it now."

"Took you a while; besides, I don't want the little man to hate me- it's just really fun messing with him."

* * *

Amaranto and Maria watched as their son ate more happily than usual.

"Still happy you and Lovina won, Antonio?" asked Maria.

Antonio nodded enthusiastically and Amaranto patted him on the back as it seemed he was beginning to choke, "Slow down!"

Antonio swallowed and took a deep breath, "Okay~ I'm just so happy!"

Amaranto chuckled, "Of course."

* * *

At the table, Julius looked at Lovina. "Did you have fun today?" It was dinner time, and Luciana and Julius were back home. Adriano and Alessa sat with them; only Clara was gone.

"Hell yes!"

"I see..."

"And we won the bet!"

"What bet?" Julius turned to Adriano.

"Oh, I bet them if we beat them in football she can't see him for a month."

"And they won?"

"Yep."

"...Can you bet with them again and win?"

Luciana giggled, "Don't be like that Julius."

"Yeah, don't be like that, bastard."

"They were so happy, the both of them," said Alessa, "Then he kept asking her to live with him."

"No!"

"Ha, just kidding. He just kept hugging her."

Julius sighed, "That's just even worse."

* * *

**Haha, just count on Julius to be a downer; but he's just becoming protective of his 'daughter'.**

**...And Adriano awakens protective and possessive Antonio. If you didn't get the context, Adriano learns fast as well.  
**

**Adriano looks a bit older than he actually is due to his mannerisms and his expressions.**

**Oh, and I'm bored~ so I'm going to run a poll for My Thanks to You. Hope you vote on it~ I have eight ideas but I want to center down to four ideas but I don't know which to choose, so...**

**Please review~ A period or an exclamation point if you want!**


	8. Getting Sick

**Author's Note: I don't own Hetalia!**

**Sorry I haven't been updating as fast... school is...**

**Anyway...**

**Lately, I've been distracted by many plot bunnies and I thought to myself, at this rate, I'm never going to finish any of my stories... *shudders* I'll try my best to get through this!**

**...Then I'll post those said plot bunnies. Bwuahahaahah...**

**I'm going to put up my poll again because I changed my mind on some things, look at it later yes?**

**I guess it's been two days in the plot... do you know what that means? Guess who's back from their two day relaxation at that Greek place? But they won't make an appearance... yet.**

**Gah, at this rate... **

**Italics is thoughts.**

**Oh, and I deem this an important chapter. So, happy reading!**

* * *

Lovina rubbed her eyes as she woke up from her deep sleep. She turned her head to the clock on her nightstand to see that it was almost the afternoon and got off the bed. Before she went to open the door to go to the bathroom, she saw a note attached to the handle:

'Boss's parents are back. Sneak out the window. - Adriano'

"Oh..." said Lovina, who, for some reason, didn't bother to complain at this moment. She sauntered to the window above the bed and, after opening said window, crawled out.

When she arrived at the place she assumed Adriano to be, she registered that he was taking a nap under a tree, having done most of his duties as the gardener. She went over to him and poked his cheek. "Wake up."

He opened one eye and looked at her, "Hmm?"

"Are... they in the house?"

He pinched one of her cheeks, "Yes. And you seem really out of it."

"..." He watched as she swayed a bit, and brought his hand from her cheek to her forehead and frowned.

"You have a fever."

She swatted his hand away, "No. You do."

"Well, I'm not the one swaying and turning red on the face."

"I'm not... I..." He reached out to grab her as she fell to the side.

* * *

Antonio stopped writing and looked around. Maria looked at him questioningly and asked, "What's wrong Antonio?"

"Something feels wrong, Mama."

"Oh...? After you go finish we'll go out and see if anything's wrong outside, okay?"

* * *

Adriano held it against his chest as he entered the house. He found the adults in the living room, chatting away. When he entered, Julius looked up at him.

"What's in that bag?"

"Oh? Just some tools I'm taking to repair, so I'm going out for a bit."

"Okay then. Take as long as you want, just be sure to come back to eat dinner with us okay?"

...

When he got into his car, he placed the bag carefully on the passenger's seat and opened it.

"Little Lady, you still alright?"

"...Ung..."

He frowned. Lovina was still asleep, but she was shaking, along with having a pained expression and sweat on her forehead.

He knew what he was doing had another solution, which was telling Luciana about Lovina's fever, and then she would be healing in the comfort of her room- but that was out of the question for three reasons:

One: That would give Lovina's existence out to the parents, in which Lovina had made them promise that they would not find out about her, and he didn't want to break that promise.

Two: The adults were having a pleasant time, and he didn't want Luciana to worry, because, she tended to worry _too_ much. Lovina wouldn't want her stressed out either, even if she was sick.

Three: He remembed Luciana telling him about how she threw away all the medicine because it was expired and how she planned to purchase medicine later in the week.

So right now, the only option that came to him was to take Lovina to his house, where he knows it has medicine, and let her rest there. No one was home, so it was okay.

If Luciana or Julius ever went to check on Lovina, he left a note that seemed Lovina-ish:

'I'm going out, Mr. Julius and Mrs. Luciana. Don't worry I'm not going far.

Bye. And don't look for me. I will come back.'

Yes... that seemed right to Adriano, and it's not like Lovina is going to write the same as she talks. So to him it seemed in character. Setting that aside, he put the key in the ignition and went out the driveway. To his convenience, Clara and Alessa were out with their parents once more, so they wouldn't be here until later.

* * *

Once he got home, Adriano went and set down the little girl on the couch in the living room and looked for the thermometer. He frowned at her temperature, and turned on the living room's fan.

Thinking he needed an ice pack for her head, he found one in the freezer and covered it with a thin towel, placing it on Lovina's forehead.

"...St-stop that..."

He looked to her face to see that she was still asleep. _Sleep talking, huh? ,_ he thought.

"Lovina?" he poked her cheek, only for her to weakly wack his finger away.

"Stop that... Feli."

_Feli? _

"...Stop... Don't call me that..."

Adriano poked her again, "Lovina?"

She weakly wacked it away again, mumbling, "I'm not... sister...Feliciana."

* * *

Lovina looked around her surroundings and flinched each time she felt as if something was coming out to grab her. It was so dark in here... even the ground she was on is dark...

"He-Hello?" She never felt this afraid before, and it was so dark...

Realizing that nothing was going to happen if she stayed put, she began to walk, looking everywhere each step she took.

"...Ve~" Lovina froze and looked around. "Wh-who's t-th-there?!"

"It's me, sister! Let's play~"

"I..I don't have a sister. I'm an onl-" she screamed as a cold wind went past her.

"NO, YOU'RE NOT!"

"St-stop! I really am an only child!"

"NO NO NO NO NO!" the voice bellowed childishly, "YOU'RE MY SIST-"

"Just SHUT UP!" Lovina yelled, putting her hands to her ears, "SHUT UP!"

"Sister-"

"Please... Just leave me alone..."

* * *

Adriano stared at Lovina with no expression, trying to hide his worry. He watched as Lovina was in a fetal position, tears streaming out of her eyes and was glistening with sweat from her fever.

And she won't wake up.

That was what worried him at the moment the most; how long will she be like this?

An hour?

A few minutes?

Until her fever dies down?

What if she goes through a coma?

He shook his head and calmed himself down; he shouldn't think of things like that.

And then he thought back to the name... Feliciana, was it? A person from her short past in that other life... He then remembered when Boss told him about how he had found Lovina. This, it now seemed to him, that Lovina was going through... her memories maybe?

After a minute, he covered Lovina halfway with a thin blanket and went to the study to find a certain book.

* * *

Lovina walked again, now angry at the voice that was annoying her very much. How long has she been in here?

...Where was she, anyway?

"Play with me~" it whined, "I'm sorry!"

She ignored it and continued to walk, with her hands into fists.

"Ve~ Lovina..."

She looked up to where she thought the voice was, scowling, "Can you just leave?!"

"I can't."

"Why is that?"

"I'm part of you, of course!"

"I... I don't get it."

"...Ve, you really don't remember me?"

Lovina sighed, "No, I don't. Really, I think I would remember someone as annoying as you."

"You're so mean sister!"

"I'm not your sister!"

"Yes, you are! We're always together...! And then we would play with Luddy and his big brother, remember?"

"Who the hell is Luddy? And there's no way that-"

She froze, the gears in the deepest part of her mind beginning to turn.

_Luddy? ...No, that's not right. She... she called him that... I called him-_

Suddenly, the darkness she was standing on didn't support her anymore, and she fell in, screaming in surprise and fear. It was swallowing her, and after awhile, she opened her eyes to come face to face with icy blue eyes that seemed so familiar.

She quickly backed away, and looked around to see that she was still surrounded by darkness. She looked at the boy, who was looking around as well, not scared, but confused.

Her voice _was not _shaking happily at the fact that she wasn't the only person in here, really it wasn't- she spoke to the boy.

"Wh-w-who th-the hell are you?"

The boy looked at her for a while, before looking at his hands.

"...I don't know."

* * *

**Author's Note: Pssh... I bet you can't quess who he is :p , just kidding- it's probably plain obvious.**

**I planned this story from beginning to end- now it's just the fact of writing it...**

**Can you tell me if it seemed to rushed or anything? Just curious. **

**Review for me please? Oh, and please vote on the poll if you want!**


	9. In a Dream, We Meet

**Author's Note: **

**Hi guys! I'm going to keep up that poll until I get to the chapter when they're teenagers. So please vote! And if, for some reason you can't vote, just PM me and I will count it.**

**You see... I have a problem with including a lot of pairings and interactions in one story, so I'm trying to control my limit in this story. It is this reason that I'm on a hiatus on 'Costumes a Fair'. **

**Grr... and it looks like that (the time when they're teenagers) will have to wait until like, chapter 14, 15, or something... so please bear with me!**

**And thanks to those who seem to still read this- it makes me happy, just so happy~**

**Warning: Cussing and... little Feli.**

**Hmm... Longest chapter so far.**

* * *

"...You don't know?" asked Lovina.

The boy shook his head.

Then Lovina thought of a question to ask. "Do you live here in Italy? I mean, you're not Italian but you seem to know it."

"I'm from... Germany I think," he paused to think and said moments later, "We... were to go back, but then..." he trailed off.

"What, bastard?"

"That... I don't know. Some weeks back - or was it days back? - I woke up in the hospital and didn't remember anything - no one's telling me anything, even my big brother. And now we're at the airport to go back home to Germany but..." he looked around, "For some reason, now I'm here." He looked back at her, "Now it is my turn; who are you?"

"Lovina, but Toni calls me Lovi and sometimes everybody else calls me Lov."

"Lovina who?"

She frowned and said, "I don't know. I don't remember much either; a bastard that's apparently my Godfather or something left me at a train station - All I remember is smoke and stuff. Mr. Julius and Mrs. Luciana take care of me now."

"I see," he looked around warily now, "And did you hear a voice...?"

"Ugh, you too? It was so annoying..."

"Don't say that!" She looked at him surprised as he defended the voice, "She sounded so lonely..."

"Tch, to you she is. To me she just kept hollering that I was her sister- I don't have one."

"How are you so sure?"

"What do you mean by that?" Lovina was beginning to get annoyed with this boy.

"You say you don't really remember anything, like me- but, you seem so sure that she's not your sister. Why is that?"

"I just know, okay?"

"But how? How are you so sure?"

She frowned at him, irritated. "I just know, okay? She is definitely not my sister! And how are sure that she's lonely? She could be tricking you for all you know!"

"Why would she be tricking me for?!"

"Think about it; we are in a dark, suspicious place and she is the only thing we can hear. She could be an evil witch or something!"

"What about you? What if you're trying to trick me, and she is trying to help?"

"Help with what? Her_ loneliness_?"

They glared at each other for some moments before the boy sighed at looked away. "I just don't know okay? It just feels that way."

"Hmph." She crossed her arms and looked away as well.

"Hey..." she looked at him, still irritated. "What, bastard?"

"This fighting, it isn't helping our situation; we need to find a way out of here."

* * *

Adriano looked at the clock above the couch were Lovina is sleeping on; almost two hours had gone by since he brought her home.

He looked down at her. Her fever had gone down a little bit, but now she seemed to have met someone in her dream-like state.

He looked down at the book in his lap and put it on the coffee table close to the couch. It was about unconsciousness and the likes, but it didn't seem to help in this situation.

*ring... ring... ring...* He stood up and went to the house phone and brought it to his ear. "Hello?"

"Adriano?"

"What, Alessa?"

"Is Lov with you?"

He frowned. "Why do you ask?"

He detected a hint of worry in her voice, "Oh, it's nothing... Haha... I was just wondering."

"Are you at Boss's house?"

"Oh, no- I'm still at home."

"Okay then," he paused for a bit, "Do you need anything else?"

"Eh.. no. Well, bye!" She hung up abruptly and he put the phone back and went to sit near Lovina again.

* * *

Karen sipped her tea and looked at her son. "Is something wrong?"

"...Hmm? What?" Everybody else (Cornelio, Benedetta, Luciana, and Alberto) had gone out to the backyard, while Karen stopped her son for a one-on-one chat, holding a cup of tea with her.

"You spaced out just now."

"Oh?"

"Is something troubling you?"

"No... nothing."

She narrowed her eyes at him, before looking forward to the backyard. "Okay then- but I'm all ears when you're ready to tell Mama." She then went to go outside.

When he was sure she had gone out, he rushed towards Lovina's room.

Something felt wrong... Most of the day so far - for it was the late afternoon now - he felt off...

And he hasn't seen signs of Lovina leaving her room for anything... not even for a meal...

He finally arrived and opened the door. "Lovina?" He frowned as he looked into the empty room; finding a note on the bed, he turned on the light and began to read it:

'I'm going out, Mr. Julius and Mrs. Luciana. Don't worry I'm not going far.

Bye. And don't look for me. I will come back.'

"How am I supposed to not worry?" he said aloud. He looked around the room, ensuring himself that everything had been untouched and began to worry more than he already was, "And you didn't even take anything with you..."

* * *

Maria found her son kicking the ball in the alley by himself, and frowned a little bit; Antonio seemed to be frustrated with something.

"Antonio?"

Her son stopped his kicked and looked up at her. "Yes, Mama?"

"Is something wrong?"

"Lovi..."

"She can't come today. Sorry, little one."

"Someone's trying to take her away."

Now she was confused. "What, Tonio...?"

"Lovi's in trouble," he looked to the ground miserably, "And I can't help her."

"Wh...What?" She went to her son and bent down to his level. "How do you know that?"

"Mama...?"

"What is it?"

"If Lovi remembers her past, does she have to go away?"

At this point, Maria became worried and brought forth both her hands to pat Antonio's cheeks. "What kind of question is that? Are you feeling well?"

Small tears threatened to fall from the rims of his eyes. "I don't want Lovi to go away."

* * *

"Are going the right way?"

"I think the question is if there _is_ a right way..."

Lovina and the boy (he still didn't remember what his name was) are now walking together to who knows where, and they're now frustrated with the what it seems to be an forever-going dark path.

"Do you think..."

"What?"

"Do you think we should call for her?"

"Her? You mean that voice?"

"Yes. Maybe she can help us...?"

"Tch, it's worth a try, bastard." She really wanted to get out of this place. She cupped her hands and brought it to her mouth and said loudly, "Oy, Voice! Talk to us!"

"..." Nothing.

She tried again, "Hey! Can you hear us?!"

"..."

She sighed and faced the boy, "I don't think..." "Ve~" She stopped and looked around, "Did you hear that?"

Before he could respond, they then both heard the voice again. "Sister...? Luddy..?"

At this, Lovina looked at the boy with a deadpan expression. "There is no way in hell I'm calling you Luddy."

He looked at her, unsure about the name, "There is no way that could be my name."

"Lovina? Ludwig?"

When they heard that, they both began to agree with each other:

"Ludwig? Well, that makes more sense..."

"Yes it does."

"But I thought you would seem more like a... Heinrich or something."

"Really? Oh, and she called you sister."

"I don't want her screaming in my ear again, so I'm just going to let it slide."

And then they remembered the voice and looked around.

"Oy, where are you?!" Lovina called out.

Suddenly, they heard giggling and turned around; only to see a little girl in a green dress, glowing in contrast to the darkness they were currently surrounded in.

The girl's curl on the left side of her head bounced a bit in happiness as she cheerfully ran around and inspected Lovina and the boy. "I am so happy you're both okay!" She grabbed one of their hands with both her hands and pulled them along with her as she walked quickly, "Let's go!"

* * *

"No..."

Maria looked worriedly at her son as she laid him down on his bed; moments ago he had suddenly collapsed and she brought him up. And now he just kept saying 'no...' and Lovina's name again and again...

After making sure Antonio was tucked safely in bed, she went downstairs to the home phone and dialed for the Santos' household.

* * *

Adriano wasn't sure if this was going to work; what he was going to do was kind of mean, not to mention _cold_, but what other choice is there? Waiting was becoming out of the question; he could wait a few more hours, but he didn't want to worry Boss and Mrs. Luciana more than they probably were, and most importantly, he didn't want to worry himself more as well.

Maybe wait a few more minutes? He held on to Lovina tightly and positioned himself.

* * *

"Lovi?" Antonio looked around; where was he? He stood up and looked around the dark landscape.

Then, hearing some voices coming from his left, he ran in said direction.

* * *

"Where are we going?" Lovina asked the girl.

"We're going home, of course!" At this, Lovina stopped and pulled away from the girl. "Home?"

Still gripping on to Ludwig, the girl nodded and grabbed onto Lovina's hand. "Home, with Mama and Papa~ And of course Grandpa Rome!"

"...Grandpa Rome?" She looked at Ludwig, who seemed to be confused and looked back and forth between the girls, but he made no attempt to break free from the girl's grasp.

"Yes, now let's go! And then we can play together again~"

Lovina pulled away again. "What... what if I don't want to go home?"

The girl's smile disappeared at this. "You don't want to go home? That's a no-no; you have to come home."

"...But-"

"But_ what_?" Lovina stepped a little bit away from the girl, slightly frightened. "Will I still get to play with Toni? Can't I stay with Mrs-"

"Toni? Who's Toni?" The girl stepped forward and grabbed Lovina's hand again, "There is no Toni. I don't know a Toni, so there is no Toni. I don't remember a Toni, so you shouldn't be remembering a Toni either," She then faced Ludwig, "Do you know a Toni?"

Ludwig looked between the girl and Lovina hesitantly, before honestly answering with, "No... I don't know Toni- I really don't."

The girl smiled and turned to Lovina again, gripping onto her hand tighter. "See, there is no Toni. It is just me, Luddy, and you~ And Gilbert too- but he mostly plays with Roddy and Lizzy."

"Roddy, Gilbert, Lizzy? Who are they?"

"You... You don't remember?" Her grip tightened even more, "That's why you should come home, sister."

And she pulled them away again, further into the darkness.

* * *

"What...?" Julius had pulled Luciana away for a moment, "She's gone? She.." Luciana began to shake a bit.

"She wrote a note-"

"She ran away? Was it me?" She sank to the ground; they were in the study while the other adults were downstairs.

"Lucia-"

"I... I love her, Julius. I know she's not my daughter, but it just hurts so much-!" She brought her knees up and began to cry into her knees.

"Lu...?" He bent down to her level and tried to get a good look of her face.

"Mrs. Luciana."

"Excuse me?"

"It's always that... Mrs. Luciana. Each time I hear that I just..." She brought out her face, "I want her to call me 'Mama'."

* * *

*ring... ring... ring... ring...* The adults looked up from where they're sitting in the living room. Then they looked at each other before Cornelio spoke up.

"Should... should we get that?" No one wanted to get up from their comfortable spots on the couch.

"I don't know..." said Alberto.

Karen spoke up. "We can just leave it to record a message."

"Yes, let's just do that," agreed Benedetta.

Then they heard the beep, following with the voice of a woman they never met: "Luciana? Julius? It's Maria. Is Lovina okay? Antonio is a bit worried and he fainted... so unlike him. He told me that someone is trying to take her away. So is she okay? Call back as soon as possible." *beep*

A silence went through the room, until Cornelio broke it.

"So who is this Lovina?"

Then they heard Julius's voice and footsteps from upstairs, "Did the phone just ring now?"

Karen got up and answered Cornelio's question instead, "We're about to find out."

* * *

He can feel it; he can feel her going further and further away...

"Lovi!" he called out. He ran faster until he saw Lovina's familiar curl and dark hair, "Lovi!"

...

Lovina stopped and turned around. "A-Antonio?"

"Lovi~!" Then she was tackled to the ground by said boy, and met face to face with his now happy and relieved face, "I don't want you to leave..."

She blushed slightly, and tried to get up. "Me either," she mumbled.

She managed to stand again, with Antonio still hugging her, and felt him become stiff. She looked up at him in question, and looked where he was looking.

The girl was glaring now, at Antonio, while Ludwig watched him curiously, but was wary of the girl still grasping on to his hand.

"Sister is coming with me and Luddy," the girl said, reaching out for Lovina, only to have Antonio to pull her back while hugging her tightly.

Antonio glared at her. "No, Lovi is coming with me."

* * *

Maria watched her husband warily, "Are you sure you want to do that?"

Amaranto nodded, "Of course."

"Then it's going to take hours to dry the sheets and everything..."

"It'll be okay," he held the bucket in position, "It's worth it for the safety of our son."

"He's going to get sick..."

* * *

Adriano took a deep breath and counted down beginning at ten.

Meanwhile...

"No me!"

"No, sister is coming with me!"

...

At this point, Ludwig and Lovina watched on the sidelines as Antonio and Feli (Ludwig had remembered some part of her name) went at each other.

_10..._

Ludwig began scratching at his neck and tried to hold back laughter as Lovina stared at him strangely.

"What's wrong with you?"

"I... I don't know. Suddenly, I'm ticklish..."

_9..._

"Hey..."

"Ha...What?"

"I remembered something."

_8..._

"Hmm?" He began to scratch at his feet now.

"Your name; Feli calls you Luddy."

"What about it?"

_7..._

"It kind of irks me when she calls you that."

"Oh?"

_6... _

"And then I remembered that it was because, I called you something else."

Ludwig tried to hold back a smile and scratched at his armpits, "Wha~ What was it?"

_5..._

"Hehe... I called you Lulu."

He groaned at the name and then laughed as he scratched at his sides, "Why?!"

_4..._

"It's not that bad... Lulu."

"I'd rather be called Luddy."

"It's not that much of a difference, you jerk."

_3..._

"Lulu makes it sound like I'm a girl..."

"To strangers yeah, but does that really matter?

_2..._

"If we're ever in public together, never call me that."

"Tch, why not?!"

Ludwig clutched at his sides and clenched his teeth together, "Be-Be-because..."

_1..._

All at once, Ludwig let out a huge laugh, while Lovina and Antonio felt as if ice ran through their veins. Feli then seemed to have disappeared, and for the three, their world became white.

* * *

Adriano quickly brought out the towel and pulled out Lovina from the pool in his backyard. Lovina gasped for air and coughed until her throat became sore.

"Damn, Luci is going to kill me..." muttered Adriano.

Lovina looked around, disoriented. "What the hell just happened?"

"I threw you into the pool; you were out for a long time."

"How long?"

"Well, it's almost dinner time."

"Oh..."

"Did something happen?"

She looked up at him, "She wanted me and Lulu to come with her."

"Feli?"

"How...?"

"You kept saying her name in your sleep."

"I did?"

"Yes. Did you remember anything besides Feli and... Lulu?"

She shook her head, "No, only their names," Then she brought out a hand to the side of her head and winced in pain, "Damn, this hurts." She sneezed.

* * *

Antonio sat up immediately and shook his head of the ice cold water poured on him, courtesy of his Papa.

"Told you it would work, Maria!"

"...Did I ever say it wouldn't?" she sighed, "Now I have to take it out to dry..." She took the towel slung over her arm and handed it to Antonio. "Are you alright, Toni?"

To her relief, her son smiled at her brightly, "Yes! And Lovi isn't going to leave!"

"Oh?"

"She tried to take Lovi, but I wouldn't let her! Ah..Achoo!"

"She?"

* * *

"I see..." Karen pinched her son's ear, "And you thought you could hide it from Mama?"

Julius winced from the pain. "Well, Lovina wanted to see how long you wouldn't notice..."

*knock*

"I'll get that," said Cornelio, getting up from the couch. When he heard the door open on its own he sat back down, "Nevermind."

Julius was surprised when he saw Adriano come in holding Lovina to him, and a plastic bag on one arm.

Immediately, Luciana ran from the dinner table (Benedetta and Luciana were setting up) to Adriano and Lovina.

"Oh, Lovina..." As she reached out for Lovina, Lovina cringed and clutched on to Adriano's shirt.

"Too... Too bright, dammit." She turned her head away and coughed.

Luciana looked at Adriano for an explanation, to which he replied, "If I told you, you wouldn't take my word for it."

She reached out for Lovina again, and Adriano turned away from her, "We wouldn't want you getting sick, Ms. Luci."

She frowned. "Sick? How?"

Adriano coughed and looked away awkwardly. "As I said earlier, If I told you, you wouldn't take my word for it."

"Adriano..." Luciana said in a warning tone.

"Ah..." he sighed and gave in, "I threw her into the pool."

"You what?!"

"Technically she was sick ever since she woke up earlier, but my throwing her into the pool just made it worse."

"..." She gave him a stern look.

"I was surprised she could swim though, but I was near the edge so I got her out as quickly as I could."

"..." Her look turned into a glare.

"I'm sorry."

"..."

"...I brought medicine." He held up the bag.

"..."

"The clothes she wore is in here too, so..."

Lovina suddenly remembered something and got out of Adriano's hold and sauntered to the stool to reach the phone and dialed.

"Hey, is To- Oh, I'm okay...Achoo! Yeah, I'm... Oh, him too? Then it wasn't a dream? Oh, a bucket? Damn. ...Can I talk to him? Thanks." Feeling the tiniest bit better, she began to sit more comfortably and spoke into the phone again. "You're sick, bastard? Heh, it's like we're sick buddies! ...I know right? Looks like we can't play since we're sick, so get better okay? No, I don't think they'll let me do that. I'm going to hang up. ...No, then I'll just call you tomorrow. Bye." Then she hung up.

"..." The adults didn't know what they should be doing at this moment, it just felt so awkward.

Lovina went off the chair and back to Adriano, lifting her arms up to him. "Can you carry me? It's not like a need to be carried or anything like that..."

Adriano lifted her into his arms and felt her forehead. "Your fever is coming back up..."

"Hmm..." She began to sway in response and Adriano realized something.

"Crap!" He looked at Luciana, "She hasn't eaten anything all day today!"

* * *

**Author's Note: **

**The last line was something I just remembered when I got to this point. One day, I didn't eat and I almost fainted- it was a strange feeling. **

**Woo, it's 4 AM now... **

**That Lulu thing... is kind of my Germano friendship headcannon, because nicknames are fun.**

**They're kids now, so of course they'd be kind of OC-ish... **

**Hahaha, guess who's the one who tickled Ludwig awake? XD**

**What did you think of this chapter? Please Read and Review~**

**Haha, next chapter- Sick buddies!**


	10. When We are Sick

**Author's Note: Sorry, it's long...**

**Hey guys! Okay, I want more votes (I'm curious to see how far it'll go), and I know you can't vote twice (which sucks), so when you review or something, can you hint on what pairing you want? Again?**

**And yay! I have more than 50 followers, about 30 favorites, and 30 reviews, I'm so happy~**

**(/*^o^*)/ It just feels so nice that someone is reading this... and likes it... you guys are so nice...**

**If I could give you guys rainbow cookies, I would. 'A Rainbow to you!' *fists out!***

**Disclaimer: I don't own Hetalia, I don't own the quote with 'Rainbow' in it, but I do own the OC's like Adriano Alessa, Clara, etc.**

**Warning: Language, and inconsistencies of the average Italian and Spanish life. *bows* Forgive me!**

* * *

Lovina didn't like this. At all; she let out a little cough.

...She wished she was with Antonio at his house. She turned her head to see that Adriano found this amusing, his mouth curved slightly upwards. He's sitting on a stool near the closet, not allowed to help because Mrs. Luciana was still mad at him, so he just watched, occasionally yawning.

Alessa and Clara are now back with them unannounced, and Lovina inwardly cursed the power of a female's intuition.

She welcomed their care for her of course, but it's not like she liked them as sisters or anything... maybe a little...

The only problem she was facing now was-

"Can't I just go call Toni?!" she said in irritation.

Luciana, pressing a hand to Lovina's forehead for the tenth time, shook her head. "You two just talked moments ago. Just wait until later okay? I think Antonio would want some rest too."

* * *

"Can I call Lovi?"

"No..."

"..Can I now?"

"Let her rest Antonio, now relax and rest."

"But, I want Loviii~"

"You two were just talking moments ago..."

...Well, mothers can't be right all the time.

* * *

"It's done~"

Lovina looked up to see Karen come in with a tray of tomato soup.

The truth is, Lovina is a tad afraid of the French-American women; when Lovina was forced to introduce herself, she was met with a hug that...

A hug that...

Well, she didn't remember because she passed out, but Lovina was sure that the woman wasn't a force to mess with.

Benedetta was a different story though; but Lovina couldn't help but feel a closeness to the woman. And she was sure Benedetta felt it as well, but the adult didn't say anything about meeting her before, so Lovina was sure that she doesn't remember either.

Upon meeting Benedetta, she was met with hands going through her hair, and then one hand tilting her face upward for a clearer view. The woman's eyes were unreadable at first, but slowly softened and then told her to call her 'Grandmother'.

Lovina didn't know how to respond to that but look down to her feet and nod a little bit.

Abruptly, she was pulled out from her flashbacks as a spoonful of soup was put into her mouth.

"It's delicious, right?" She looked up to Karen and nodded.

"Of course it is! Bene and I won many contests a while back-"

"In our youth." Benedetta now came into the room, with a plain spare apron around her waist.

Karen turned to her in feigned shock. "What are you talking about,_ ma cherie_?! We are still young! At least wait until we're past sixty!"

"..._Ma cherie_?" The women turned to Lovina, who's now looking at Adriano in faint confusion, "What is that?"_  
_

"Oh...?" Started Adriano, leaned back to the wall from the stool, "It's French for 'my dear'." He then lazily grins at her, "I bet you can't learn French and English within a week."

"Tch, I bet I can," commencing imaginary spark of challenge coming from her eyes to Adriano, "And if I do, you have to teach me how to drive."

"Aww, then what am I going to do with you when you're seven?"

"Jump trains?"

"Oh, okay then sure."

Clara and Alessa looked at Adriano to Lovina worriedly and thought, _These two...__  
_

And so, the older women were temporarily forgotten as they stayed quiet, watching the younger people go through their disturbing, yet casual conversations of learning languages and jumping miscellaneous vehicles.

Other than that, they were mystified at how much vocabulary spouted out from the five-year old's mouth.

Luciana had left the room after Karen brought in the soup to go see what the men were doing.

* * *

"Lovina is just an wonderful child."

"We should take her fishing some time with us, Alberto."

Julius spit out some of his drink and looked at his father and father-in-law in shock.

Cornelio looked at him in surprise. "Hmm, is something wrong?"

"We-well, you probably don't know this, but-"

"She curses almost just as much as the associates of the mafias down in the south? Yes, I have noticed," laughing heartily, Cornelio sipped his glass of wine.

Alberto looked into his glass and swished the contents around, "And it is not like she's a troublesome child; has she done any wrong when you took her in?"

"Well..."

"Did she break anything?"

"No-"

"Did she spill anything?"

"N-"

"Did she ever disgrace you in front of other adults?"

"Well, not re-"

"Then, has she done anything that irks you?"

"There's one thing..."

"Oh?"

"She keeps asking if she could go see a boy down in town..."

"Doesn't sound that bad..."

"And I think the boy likes her, because his mother has told me that he wants to see her too, so many times."

Cornelio laughed at this, "I knew someone like that too! A little boy, doing everything the girl asks of him."

"Wasn't it annoying?"

"Well, at first, but there's nothing wrong with that; he never dared to hit her or anything- and he kept giving her a nickname only he could call her- ha... the look on his face when others attempted to call her with the name!"

"How can you get used to that?"

"I really don't know..." Luciana came into the garden patio, "Oh, my dear Luci!"

"Hello, Papa."

"So, how is little Lovina?"

"Her fever went down a bit; now she's just asking again to call her friend."

Alberto finished his wine and looked at her with an expression of curiosity. "Antonio, was it?"

Luciana nodded.

He spoke again. "What do you think of him?"

"He's a nice boy, always willing to play with her."

"Like that boy I used to know!" interjected Cornelio.

Julius spoke up, "But now that boy is older right? Most times, you can never be friends for too long." He decided to drink some more of his wine.

"You're right," said Alberto, "They got married."

Luciana watched as Julius choked on his beverage and coughed. "Do you think that's what Antonio and Lovina are going to do when they get older?"

Julius just shook his head repeatedly and Cornelio laughed, "Come now Julius! If you two did it, then they can too!"

At this, Julius realized who the boy was and blushed, hanging his head low, he ran out into the house.

The men laughed together while Luciana followed him, blushing as well, smiling.

* * *

After they left, Alberto calmed down his laughter. "That was fun, wasn't it?"

"Yes... It is a pleasure to poke some fun out of our grown children."

For some while, a comfortable silence flowed through the area; it was the afternoon now, and the house provided shade from the sun.

"Did you notice it too, Cornelio?"

"...?" Said person looked at him questioningly while sitting next to him.

"Come now, I know you Cornelio; she brings back some memories, doesn't she?"

"...Well," Cornelio looked back at the house, "Maybe a tad bit... but there is no exact comparison."

"You think so? I thought she was a visiting spirit at first glance- minus that curl and little frown."

"On the topic of the curl, have you ever seen one that size on a child?"

"Quite unusual- I've seen some people with it, and some without like us, but..."

"What did that one person tell us? Some kind of... zone?"

"Hmm.. something zone, I know that much. And that you shouldn't touch it unless you intend to take responsibility."

"Take responsibility? For what?"

"I'm guessing for invading personal space; I have heard of some people taking it very seriously."

"...Interesting."

"I see that the memories pain you a bit, but you didn't have to avoid it with the curl."

"Oh, I know- but I really was curious."

* * *

Some minutes later after their escape from the garden, Julius and Luciana went their way to Lovina's room, and found the girls hovering over a sleeping Lovina; Adriano was still sitting on the stool in a bored manner. The women were nowhere to be found.

"Where are our mothers?" asked Julius.

"Oh," they both looked at Adriano, "They went to the store to find more dresses to torture Lovina with..."

Clara looked at him in amusement. "Torture?"

He nodded. "Unlike you guys, I can tell when a loved one is in pain."

Alessa turned her head at him in disbelief. "No way, bro."

He flipped his hair dramatically at her, "Yes way, sister. Like seriously."_  
_

"Was that hair flip even necessary?" asked Clara.

"Totally."

"Ahem-" The three looked back to Julius, who looked slightly disturbed, "What are you guys supposed to be doing now?"

"..."

"..."

"..."

Julius became confused as they stared at him with an amused expression. "What?"

"Isn't that up to you?" asked Clara.

"Yeah, I mean, we are the ones working for you... and Ms. Luci of course," said Alessa.

"Tell us what to do, Boss," added Adriano at the end.

Julius scratched the side of his head in thought. "Is the house...?"

"Clean? Yes it is," Clara looked up and counted with her fingers, "We also dried the laundry, cleaned out the study, this room, the kitchen, sanitized the bathrooms, and rearranged your underwear."

"M-my under...wear...?!"

"Just kidding. Seriously, you will never catch me anywhere near your underwear drawer."

"You'll catch me though." Everybody stared at Adriano, who regarded them lazily, "I promise you; one day you will find me near your underwear."

_Is... Is he serious? _thought Julius.

"..." He thumbs-upped to him as if he approved of something and continued to talk, "And I did my jobs too; the back and front yards are clean and clipped, and the little lady and the little man are in stage one of their relationship."

"...Stage one?" questioned Luciana.

"Yes. And it's going to last for a while until they go into stage two; then stage three is last."

"I... I don't understand the stage part-" began Julius.

"You don't have to, Boss," Adriano pointed to himself in lethargic happiness, "Leave it all to me~ Hahaha..."

"..." Julius looked to Alessa and Clara, "Do you understand what he's talking about?"

Clara shrugged, "I'd just go along with it- it's easier that way."

Alessa nodded in agreement, "He just has his moments-," she looked at Adriano, "Are you hungry?"

As if a switch was flipped, Adriano's expression became slightly calmed and he yawned. "Nope."

* * *

"Mama~!" Maria looked up from her position in the kitchen, in front of the sink, to see Antonio coming to her happily. "I feel all better now! Can I call Lovi now?"

"She might still be sleeping..."

*knock* *knock* "Oy, Toni!"

She watched as her son's face light up disappeared, having run to the door. "LOVI~"

"Not so loud, you bastard! I'm right here!"

"But it's not fair! We barely got to talk to each other..."

"Tch, I know right? So much for sick buddies."

As the kids continued to talk, Maria greeted Adriano, who came in following Lovina.

"Oh, you came on your own?"

"Yeah, it'll be a while until they notice though."

"Notice what?"

"That Lovina and I are missing."

"...Excuse me?"

"You see, they came in with loads of frilled clothing and began to torture her mercilessly. And being _me_, I created a distraction in which forced them to drive off somewhere for a glass service."

"But wh-"

"And I was told to specifically to watch over her; Alessa and Clara were called home and technically, I am watching over her."

"I guess that's-"

"I also brought pictures from last time, I'm surprised no one has noticed me taking them."

"Ooh, go sit over there- I also took some."

And so, they enthusiastically cooed (well, Maria did, Adriano chuckled then and there) at the photos until evening came.

Julius was angry that Adriano went off with Lovina to Antonio's, and so was Luciana. But to Julius's disappointment, Adriano and Maria managed to win her, the older men, and women over with the pictures.

Lovina doesn't know that they had taken photos; meanwhile, Antonio secretly took one photo from his mother's collection, and two from Adriano's collection, hiding them under his pillow.

* * *

**I have a question: Do you think I under-do Lovi's cussing? Or over-do? Can you tell me?**

**And how was this chapter? What do you think of my OC's? **

**-Just so you know, Maria takes after nyo!Spain.**

**The imagery I see in my head when I type this; I thought it funny, but my humor isn't exactly...**

**I made sketches for Clara, Alessa, and Adriano; and the only problem I have is with Adriano's hair... I just don't know... I imagine it dark and a bit messy but... I just can't get it right... Argh *flips table***

**Maybe like a mix between Spain and Romano hair? *shakes head* I can't imagine _that..._**


	11. To Find Something out

**Author's Note: Hey... **

**I'm like... *blinks* Fall break is coming up this week for us...Yay~**

**Thanks for the reviews~ **

**And responding to the Guest: **Interesting... I never thought those three to be like the ones in Kuroshitsuji (Black Butler)... and for Adriano to be like Netherlands... I would think that Adriano is fond of Toni, unlike Neth...

And the dream is that... Lovi's memories are trying to get her to remember- and that also has a fever that kind of magnified it. And she meets Ludwig, who somehow seemed to have lost his memories as well- and he is going through it too... As for Toni... he is deeply and childishly attached to Lovina.

**Again, thank you for the reviews~ **

**On another note, I drew them- Alessa, Adriano, and Clara~ I want you guys to see... but how?! Should I put them on the cover page or something? And I drew little Lovi and Antonio! But I didn't color them- I tend to ruin it by coloring so I just shade...**

**Later I shall draw the adults!**

**I don't own Hetalia~ **

**Warning: Cursing and the likes. And a Bwahahahaa~! from me, because guess who Julius is related to?**

**Another warning: An attempt at family bonding; I don't think it was moving enough... (Although in my mind it was...)**

* * *

It has been about two months now since that time Lovina had that unusual fever. Nowadays, only Adriano is here doing service because Clara and Alessa go to school and are only allowed to visit during breaks and etcetera because their parents want them to 'focus'.

When Lovina asked why Adriano doesn't go to school, he merely answered with, "I never needed to."

Antonio is still being home schooled and Lovina...

Well, Lovina does whatever the hell she wants.

...

Just kidding. No, not really; all she does is go through the materials of Julius's study, television, and whatever Adriano decides to lend to her whenever she wants.

The parents decided to stay just because they wanted to stay; they're adults, so they do what they want.

Now, on to the current storyline...!

Karen absolutely adored the little girl; she reminded her of someone long ago- apart from the cursing and the adorable frowning. The only thing that irked her was-

"Ms. Luciana?" Karen looked up from the novel she was reading in the living room; it is the afternoon now, and everybody was somewhere doing something around the house.

"Hmm...You're looking for Luci?"

"...Yes, um..."

Karen regarded her with a calculating gaze. "_Mamie._" She knows that by now Lovina is fluent in French when she didn't back down from Adriano's bet and learned it quickly.

She also noticed that Lovina always called them either 'Miss' or 'Mister', which really unnerved her.

At this, Lovina stiffened and looked uncertain. "_Ma..Mamie_..."

"_Oui._ And you will call me that from now on, okay?"_  
_

"But-"

Karen narrowed her eyes at Lovina. "But what?" She felt kind of mean, but there are some things you just have to do to push someone a certain direction.

"You... You're not... Yo-"

"What?"

To her confusion, Lovina began to grip on the sides of her dress while blushing gradually.

"You don't look like a granny."

"..." Karen looked at her in surprise.

"..." Lovina continued to blush and avoided eye contact.

"Eh?"

* * *

Julius needed to ask his mother something so he headed to the living room. However, before he could get in there, he found his father blocking the way.

"Father, what's wrong?"

Alberto turned to him, wearing an expression of amusement and pity. "Oh, not much. I wouldn't want to be near your mother at this time though."

"Oh?"

"I wonder what Lovina said to her..." At this, Julius decided to politely go past his father a bit to see what was happening.

His eyes widened and he motioned to his mother. "Mama, what are you-?"

"She's just the cutest! Oh, I can just eat her now!"

Oh no. She is in 'that' phase.

He looked on as his mother held Lovina tightly in her arms like a dearly beloved rag doll who is currently suffocating due to the latter's chest. The fact that she was randomly spinning due to bliss wasn't helping either, especially with the sparkles of happiness surrounding her.

"Whoa, Boss," Julius looked to his left side to see Adriano nonchalantly drinking out of a juice box, "It's worse than the first time she hugged little Lady; instead of fainting at the first five seconds, she's being tortured with air loss."

Julius frowned at this and looked back to the commotion. To his surprise and worry once more, Adriano threw his juice box away and went towards the happy woman.

Right when he went within five feet of her she stopped and smiled at him with a dangerous glint in her eyes.

"Yes?"

"I don't remember why they don't go near you when you do this... but you need to let Lovina go."

"Eh, Why _moi_?"

Instead of explaining, Adriano simply pointed to her chest.

* * *

It's so dark...

I want to grab hold of my head but I can't... Ugh, and it hurts so much...

Oh, yeah, Mam- Ms. Karen is hugging me again... but this is worse than the first time.

I... I can't breathe...

This feels familiar... like... Suddenly, something flashed through my mind-

"Sister! Lovina, where are you?!" No... No, this isn't right. All I'm seeing now is smoke.

"Papa! We have to go ba-" NOO! Nonononono... that voice...

I need to grab my head. NOW. Why can't I move my arms? I need to...

I need to put pressure on my head...! It'll... It'll feel better that way...

I'm trying to take deep breaths but I can't...

I... I need a..air...

...

Now, I feel light... am I.. am I going unconscio-

* * *

Karen looked down to see Lovina limp in her arms. "L-Lovina...?"

Just as soon as she said that, Adriano took her out of her arms and held her like a doll; he patted and rubbed her back lightly. When it seemed that her breathing became normal, he handed her back to Karen, who held her back tenderly, making sure not to hold her too tightly with a worrisome expression on her face.

"Oh, I did it again..."

Adriano patted her shoulder. "It should be okay. What happened anyway?"

"She told me I didn't look like a grandmother."

"Well, you don't. But that's not a reason to hug her like that."

"Ay... I'm sorry," she lightly kissed the top of Lovina's forehead, "I became too excited..."

"I want to hug her too, but do you see me do that? And Antonio isn't as strong yet so his hugging is okay and adorable," he nodded to himself in assurance, "She's not used to hugging back, but soon she will, and both of them will then be half-way through phase one."

She looked at him questionably. "What?"

"I'll tell you later."

* * *

Lovina slowly regained consciousness, and as she tried to sit up- she is now situated on the couch- someone pressed a wet towel to her cheek. Her eyes wandered up to see that it is Karen, with a remorseful expression on her face.

"I am so sorry Lovina."

Sitting and rubbing her eyes she responded. "It's okay..."

"You know," Karen dabbed her forehead softly, "Family doesn't have to mean you're related to them. Am I like family to you?"

Lovina frowned and looked down at her hands. "I don't know..."

"Am I stranger?"

She shook her head in response.

"Is anyone here a stranger to you?"

She shook her head again.

Karen paused for a bit. "What do you know about me?"

Lovina looked up at her. "You're from France. And you like violet shades and going to spas."

"What else?"

"You're Mr. Julius's mama... and Mr. Alberto's husband."

"And what else?"

"Your birthday is in the winter, so you ask for double the presents on Christmas."

Karen laughed, "Yes, that's right!"

"But... what does it feel like, with a family?"

"Well, what does it feel like now?"

"It feels nice, I guess..."

"Oh yeah?"

"But... It's weird. I know they're not my parents so-"

"You feel like you're back-stabbing your real ones?"

Lovina nodded.

"I never knew you'd think that way."

She crossed her arms and looked away. "It feels wrong," she said simply.

Karen thought for a moment before talking again. "Well, you can have more than one mother or father."

At this, Lovina looked at her curiously.

"I'm not Luci's mother- Bene is- but I am like another mother to her... do you get what I'm saying?"

"I guess so."

"For example, do you talk with Antonio's mother?"

Lovina nodded.

"And she treats you like her own, right?"

She thought for a bit before responding with a nod.

"See? And..." she lowered her voice, even if they were the only ones in the living room, "I think Luci wants you to call her 'Mama'."

"...No."

"What?" Karen looked at her in shock, "Why?"

"I want her kid to call her that first before I do."

"...?"

"When they get their baby, the baby gets the first turn, cause it wouldn't be fair if I did it first."

"I understand that, but do you even know how babies are made?"

"Yes, and I'm still waiting for that stork."

"Oh, no... That's not-"

"Just kidding. Did you really think I'd fall for that stupid shit of an excuse? I mean, it sounds magical and all, but seriously? And I know Santa isn't real either!" She paused and pointed to her chest, much to Karen's confusion.

"Because he's in here. We're Santa."

* * *

Let's skip to night time now, in the living room:

"Alone time, yes? We'll take little Lovina of your hands along with Adriano, okay?" Karen was sitting with Julius and Benedetta on the couch; Alberto decided to retire early and Cornelio was in the study.

"W-what?"

"Come now, with Lovina here, it's going to be hard for you guys to make-"

"She can just come live with me," They looked up to see Adriano leaning over at them from upstairs, "She's like a sister already, and my parents will be okay with it... They're hardly home anyway."

"You're saying as if it's permanent..." said Julius.

"It can be, if you wa-"

"No." Luciana came down from upstairs, hair wet from taking a shower. Bounding down after her was Lovina, her hair wet as well, towel over her head like a veil.

Adriano chuckled while looking down at Lovina, "What are you trying to do, little Lady?"

She positioned the towel to where whole head is covered. "In a few minutes, I will use magic and disappear!"

"To Antonio's house?"

The towel head huffed and Adriano was sure that the little person was blushing underneath. "Why would I want to go there, you bastard?"

"Then where would you disappear to?"

"..."

"..."

"...The land of talking mushrooms."*

"They're toadstools."

"Says you!" Then in a fit of emotion, Lovina ran around the room blindly, before tripping in front of the stairs. In that moment, Cornelio came down the stairs, and watched as everyone in the room stared at him and back to Lovina.

He put up his hands in defense. "I didn't do it."

"Oh, we know," said Adriano, "Little Lady is just clumsy."

"I am not, you son-of-a-bitch!" she said back to him from the floor, her voice muffled by the towel.

"Oh, you wound me," he said sarcastically, "But can you say that again so my mother can hear?"

"Mmmmfffmph..."

"Hmm? What was that?"

"..."

"..."

"Did you die?" asked Adriano. Cornelio picked up Lovina from the floor and held her in his arms, removing the towel on her head so that it went around her neck now. Once she felt the lights on her she winced and crossed her arms, her head faced away from where the light was coming from.

"Aww, did the lights hurt you?"

All he got was a 'hmph' from the little girl.

"Aww, and you're mad at me too?"

This time is received another 'hmph' and a slight nod. Cornelio laughed while Julius sighed from the couch and looked up at Adriano. "Don't you need to go home soon?"

"I'll go home when the little Lady is asleep."

"Well, I assure you, she is going to sleep soon."

"That's what you think."

Benedetta regarded him with a frown. "What do you mean by that?"

"She never sleeps."

"And how do you know that?" she asked.

"Oh, I don't know. I thought you would."

"...What." Said Julius with a deadpan expression.

"Hey," Adriano started, completely changing the conversation, "Can I sleep over?"

"Why?"

"Cause no one's at home, Boss. Let me sleep on your couch."

"I don't thin-"

"The garden?"

"No-"

"The roof then?"

"What-"

"Lovina's room?"

"NO." Interjected Luciana.

"My car?"

Julius frowned at him. "That..."

"Okay, thanks."

"But I didn-"

"Little Lady, I brought some books from home," he came down the stairs at opened the front door, "Come help me get them."

To the Julius and Luciana's inner disappointment, Lovina wanted down from Cornelio, and went out the door to follow Adriano.

Karen laughed a bit. "She's attached to him, isn't she?"

"Too attached," muttered Julius. Luciana crossed her arms uncomfortably, and then went out the door to go see if Lovina wasn't taken away or anything.

"Come now, it is not that bad," she punched her son playfully at his arm, "I remember someone telling me when he was little how much he wanted his brother to play with him like that many times."

He brought his arm away from her. "It's not like that anymore. Besides, we haven't seen each other since he married... her name..."

"Matilde."

"Yes, her; she was nice."

"Now, you would remember her better if you just went to visit them in Ca-"

"But-"

"I know, I know. But did you know, you're an uncle of two, little, adorable twins?"

"Oh..."

"I believe they're about Lovina's age- and Matilde had a sister who gave birth the same time she did!"

"Oh?"

"So it's like you're an uncle of four... Kind of. I had forgotten their names... it started with an A..."

"That's nice, mother. But not yet."

Karen sighed, "Okay..." she paused a bit, "You have until Christmas, anyway."

He looked at her surprised. "Christmas?"

"Yes... I believe it's our turn to house our Christmas reunion... The kids will take up your old rooms and the guests... including the others.."

"Mother..."

"And Lovina will be with us too! I wonder what she'll be like with other children besides Antonio-"

"Now that I think about it," interrupted Cornelio, "Where is he today?"

"Oh," said Julius, "His mother took him on a 'field trip' for the day; they should be back by now."

"That makes sense."

* * *

The next day:

Lovina woke up disoriented and when she was finally able to look at the clock she groaned. "This early?! I could have slept in! Now I can't go back to sleep, dammit!"

Suddenly, her door slammed open, and guess who?

"Loovviii~!" Then he went to hug her happily while she was still on her bed.

"You jerk! Do you know how early it is?!"

"Ah~ Sorry, Lovi. But I'm just so happy!" *click* They looked up to see Maria with a digital camera, grinning brightly.

"Oh, don't mind me; just stay like that, okay?"

Meanwhile, Adriano was explaining to Karen about his little shipping plan. As this was happening, Karen left it up to the older adults to convince Julius and Luciana to do couple stuff alone while they go on a fishing trip...

And now it seems like, Antonio's papa wants in on this fishing trip too.

* * *

**Author's Note (Read it until the end please):**

**Sorry if it seems a little rushed... What do you guys think of it? (Please answer meee!) **

**Oh, and Matilde is Madeline and Matthew's mom (Yeah... I'll just tell you guys now) and is Julius's sister-in-law.**

***= Someone's been playing Mario World ( I do not own)**

**Sometimes, you just have those silly fits of emotion...**

**I had 11 votes on my poll and now the most prominent pairing that is going to be added in here is FrancexJeanne~**

**But, contrary to what I said earlier, I'm going to end it or whatever. You see...**

**- I wondered if I was allowed to vote on my own poll; I was curious you see... and apparently, I could! I was very surprised... And now y****ou see... I am the 11th voter... and I created a 5-way tie... *lays head down on table* I'm such a bad person...**

**- It's kind of like cheating... so I'm going to take it down and just forget about it; You guys are just going to see what you will see... ****- But I am keeping FrancexJeanne, don't you worry.**

**- Gah, I'm saying 'see...' a lot in this note, aren't I?**


	12. Kidnapping: A Bad Idea

**Author's Note: **

**I AM SO SORRY. **

**Man, I said I would try to update this weekly... Again, so sorry. I only had time to review other stories and read. **

**And I'm slowly failing my math class, so I'm trying to catch up, but that's no excuse. **

**Nowadays, I feel that not much people are on as they used to... including me... It's just getting busy for everyone, huh? **

**I don't own Hetalia~ **

**Warning: Inaccuracy of places, etc. , cursing, language... and the fact that the Romana (Lovina) in this story is a child that learns very quickly. I'm not sure what fishing places are like so... be prepared.**

**Another Warning: New Characters are introduced, bwuahahaha... aren't the sunflowers beautiful today? ^J^**

**And also when they speak in a different language, it's still going to be in English format, like when Lovina first talked to Antonio.**

**Whew... we're almost to the chapter mark... soon I have to enter the arc where they're teenagers... *excited* but... *frowns in thought* will I be able to get it that far or will I have to extend the chapter mark... again?**

* * *

She isn't lost.

Really, she isn't.

They're the ones lost... yes, that was it. She isn't the one who lost her way, they are! Hahaha...

After thirty minutes of finding no one but groups of strangers walking around, Lovina found a place to sit and sulk on a bench in front of the fountain in the area of... the area of wherever she was in. "...Damn it." She kicked her little legs back and forth in quiet frustration as people passed by her talking in quiet tones on how cute she was.

Today, Karen decided to dress her up in a yellow sundress with sunflower print on the edge, complete with a hat with a silky brown ribbon and an artificial sunflower pinned onto it. Speaking of Karen, where is she? Lovina looked around her carefully, trying to find signs of the French-American woman. She was just holding on to her hand earlier...

Lovina frowned; she did not like this fishing place... no, not at all- there are too many people, and earlier a bird went up to her and stole her sandwich- now, she really wanted to go home.

Lovina POV

Home...

Is that what it is to me now?

...Well, it's not like I have no where else to go. Maybe Adriano's but...

Mrs. Luciana; she would be sad if I left, Mr. Julius... I don't know... would he miss me?

I shake my head and look around again; I shouldn't be thinking like this...

"Hello."

I look up to see a... policeman-security guard smiling at me. "Are you lost? I can take you to the entrance- there we can call on the intercom to ask for your parents."

This man... looking at his outfit I see that the badge is on the wrong side. Could this be one of those fakers Adriano told me about? Oh, now I see that he spelled 'security' wrong...

Wait...

Oh, shit! This guy is going to kidnap me! Wait, what did Adriano tell me to do when this would happen to me when we were on the train ride here?

_Flashback_:

_"Now tell me, little Lady- what should you do when a guy faking the appearance of a police officer approaches you?"_

_"...Hnh," I look up to the ceiling in thought, "Go along with it; cause he probably kidnapped other little kids and I could break them out."_

_"What else could you do?"_

_"...Scream loudly and kick him in the nuts?"_

_He laughed, "Yeah, you got it right."_

Yes... that; but I should probably go with the first one.

"Young lady?" asked the fake officer.

"Oh... " I nodded with an uncertain expression, "Yes... I can't find them."

He smiled, and I can see the gleeful glow in his eyes. This creeper. "Well, then," he held out his hand, "Come with me."

Ignoring his hand, I got off the bench and went to his side, clutching on to his pants. "Okay," I say quietly.

As we walk, I notice that we go past a sign pointing to the opposite direction titled 'Entrance'.

...Then I come to the conclusion that when I break out the other children, I'll go buy a dictionary and go to him in prison and throw it at his face. The thick ones.

How stupid does he think I am?! Now, I really want to headbutt this bastard...

Looking around where we are, I can see crowds going around bulletins with information of... something- I can't see with the adults around.

"...Lovina.."

I look around to see who called my name, and finding no one recognizable I look forward; the man stiffened and walked faster.

"Please... have you seen..." This voice... it wasn't Karen, but...

Not to make the man suspicious, I turn my head slightly to the side. My eyes widened as I see Benedetta frantically going around with a small picture asking if they had seen me.

"Have you seen my granddaughter?" I hear her ask.

Beginning to feel strangely guilty, I matched with my kidnapper's pace- who quickened again- and we continue on our way to who knows where.

Kidnapper POV

I better get bonus for this.

Originally, the plan was to get the Honda's kids, Braginsky's kid, Oxenstierna's kid, and the Kirkland's kid, but to also get Vargas's grand-kid, total bonus. I mean, how can you not know that distinctive curl?

Hmm... let's see... the one in the picture I got looked happier and lighter, but this one... I heard that he got two granddaughters and expecting a grandson soon, so I guess this is the other granddaughter.

...His other granddaughter...? I look down at the kid again. This frown...

Crap! I... I got Don's kid!

Do-Don Vargas... the man who could simultaneously shoot down five groups of hitmen on his own within minutes... The one who holds no mercy...

The one who left the position of being an heir to his younger brother to own a pizzeria in hopes of making a clean image for the Vargas family... or something like that...

This is his child!

Maybe I shouldn't take her... I'd rather lose pay than to face the wrath of Don...

But then again, I heard his kid had gone missing and I found her so maybe I should... give her back to Don and not face a painful death? Or should I- "Oy." I look down to see the kid's frown. Heh, this kid's adorable.

"Yes...?" I ask.

"We've been walking for a while now; when are we going to get there?"

"Uh..." I look around and saw the van- facing her with a smile I hoped to be friendly I say, "Yes, almost there."

Lovina POV

Why is he smiling at me like that? It looks close to a rape face than a smile that says 'Hi, I'm friendly!' Especially with that goatee and sideburns... All he needs are glasses to complete the look... and maybe a pompadour.

Soon enough we arrive to an obviously suspicious van and he tells me to wait in there while he calls the staff at the entrance a.k.a 'I'm going to call my boss and tell him who I just got.' Strangely, he approaches the door to the back seats warily before eventually letting me sit on the passenger side.

"Just wait here, okay?" he says to me.

I decide to start my scheme now and tell him, "I'll just lock the door so no one will come in and kidnap me- can I?"

"Oh, of course." After that, he leaves to talk to his phone in private.

Tch... I can't believe he let me do that; does he think I'm going to unlock for him..?

Probably, but in actuality, I'm not.

When he rounds the corner I look around. Surprisingly, it's very neat in here- at the bottom I spy some important looking paper work and pick it up.

Looking through it, attached to the papers are photos of kids that look like my age, and I found that they belong to some pretty rich families. But... I re-look through the paper work.

It... It seems so random...the Honda family owns a video game company, the Braginsky family owns a vodka industry with some mafia stuff on the side, the Oxenstierna family owns a furniture company, and the Kirkland family owns a theater industry known for its special effects. And me... the Santos family has it's wine...

I put the pieces all together now. Whoever sent this nice, creepy bastard to get us wants...

...discounts to create a huge home-welcoming party.

Yes... that must be the case- but that is no excuse to kidnap little children for the sake of discounts...

Shaking my head in disappointment at the kidnappers, I move on to grabbing the keys - the dumbass left them in there- and crawled to the back seats and unlocked the hatch to get into the back.

"Oy, anybody in here?" I ask as I'm greeted with darkness. There seemed to be no switch for light, but I eventually grabbed onto a handle and opened some kind of ventilation shafts on the top of the van. It was little light, but it was enough to see the kids my age in the van.

"Hey..." I looked to see them hugging their knees with their mouths shut, "Say something!"

When they didn't respond I went to who I assumed was Kiku from the picture I saw on the file, and spoke to him. "Oy..."

"..." He looked at me warily, and protectively pressed himself close to who I think is Sakura, his younger sister that's a year younger than us, at age four.

Maybe... they can't speak Italian? I looked around that the other kids.

Let's see, from reading the files and looking at the pictures, Kiku and Sakura are Japanese, Ivan is Russian, Berwald is Swedish, and Arthur is English and the other girl... wait...

Who the hell is this other girl? I didn't see her in the files... She looked similar to Arthur, but with lighter hair in pigtails and no large eyebrows... I guess I can say she's English...

From what I heard from what Adriano told me about kids who go to different countries, most of them should know, if not little, English.

Damn... I only know French, Spanish, and Italian- the little I know of English from Karen is asking where the bathroom is and other tourist-like question necessities.

Suddenly, the nice, but creepy kidnapper went to my mind- he could be back any minute!

"Tch..." I quickly ran back to the front and unlocked the back door and before going to the back I see screwdriver and a long, thick rope hanging from hook and take them with me.

Being rushed with the thought that the kidnapper could be back any minute I spread out the rope and jabbed it into the kids' hands since they weren't being cooperative, and proceeded to stab the door with the screwdriver when I realized that it opens from the outside.

Damn at this rate... I'll have to...

Normal POV

As you can see, the language barrier is thick in here. Very thick.

Realizing that they had been fooled and kidnapped, the children felt discouraged, and not being able to speak other languages than some English and their native language, stayed quiet and fearful around each other.

Many minutes later, they hear his voice again, accompanied by another voice of what they assumed was his accomplice since she was speaking his language, and that he didn't open the back the door like he did to them.

Then, that's when Lovina comes in.

They didn't know who she was. Was she the captor's daughter? Was she a special kidnapping?

Kiku felt unsure and confused when she approached him and his sister; she was a stranger, and he felt that it was a trap.

When she went back to the front they wondered what she was doing- then suddenly, she comes back with rope and a screwdriver, and they were curious. Through their heads were questions like:

Who is she?

Why is she giving us rope to grab on?

What is she going to do with that screwdriver?

Will she be my friend?

She's not one of the kidnappers?

Does she like sunflowers?

Can we trust her?

It was when she attacked the door with the screwdriver did they realize that she's trying to help them escape.

After what they felt was minutes of intense stabbing, they watched as she went to move Ivan next to Berwald (he was closest to the back door) and walked back to the entrance to the front of the van.

And she ran, head tilted forward.

With the limited space, they didn't have the slightest clue of what she was doing until-

"Aaahhhhhhh!" *SLAM*

Light then temporarily blinds them, and when it subsided they hesitantly looked out the van to see Lovina kneeling on the ground, cringing in pain. Worried for the girl, Sakura goes past her brother and stands next to her, frantically asking in Japanese if she was alright. At this point, the others get off the van and go next to her- shrugging of her pain, Lovina goes to pick up her hat, put it on, and reached for the rope and tugged on it slightly.

When they didn't understand, she sighed in frustration and put parts of the rope in their hands again before grabbing on to the ends and attempted to walk away from the van, pulling them along, signaling to them that she's using the rope to keep them together from getting more lost than they already are.

In this situation, she found it best that action spoke more than words.

Excitedly they followed her, happy to escape from the van, until they heard his voice from afar, at the other corner across from where they were, the van and alley between them.

"Hey- wait!"

Tugging on the rope, Lovina runs, followed my the others. Before they could go far enough out of his sight, the English girl trips over loose gravel and quickly, the man catches up to them.

Eyes widened as the man caught up towards the girl, and in a flash, they watched as he was suddenly thrown against the truck by Lovina's headbutt, and continued to watch as Lovina helped the girl - who began to cry at almost being caught again - up and ran back to the group again, the girl then clutching the rope tighter than before.

**Page break, cause I am a page break - Hi, I'm page break.**

When they arrived back into the main area, Lovina tiredly ignored the pain coming from her head and looked back to see if they were alright. "Are you guys okay?"

Receiving no response, she muttered "Nevermind," as she remembered that they didn't know Italian, and turned back around to lead the way, not noticing the shocked and worried looks from the other kids.

By walking around, Lovina was sure that they would run into their families eventually.

The first was Berwald; before running to his parents he brought out his hand to shake with Lovina in thanks and inwardly promised that whenever they meet again in the future - he was sure they would - he'd give her free furniture for the rest of her life.

The second was the girl with pigtails; happily returned to her parents she tearfully hugged Lovina and before departing told Lovina something she didn't really understand - the only words she understood was 'head' and 'safe'.

The third was Arthur; after saying his thanks he looked at her worriedly and handed her a handkerchief before running off to catch up with his parents and baby brother.

The fourth and fifth were Kiku and Sakura; upon reaching their parents, Kiku spoke in rapid Japanese to them and soon enough, bowed to Lovina, followed by Sakura and their parents, which confused Lovina, who then bowed back to them.

Ivan, not knowing what to do as well, bowed with them. After bowing, their mother bought out something from her purse and bent over Lovina, who wondered what she was going to do. Seeing that the mother had a worried expression Lovina frowned and watched as she brought out a small mirror to show that she had blood slowly flowing down halfway from the top of her head.

_Oh..._ thought Lovina, _that's what Arthur and that girl were trying to tell me..._

Putting the mirror back in her purse, Mrs. Honda then bought out one of those tiny moist towelettes and proceeded to wipe her face of the blood. After some seconds of wiping, Lovina assumed that her head didn't stop bleeding from the look Mrs. Honda was showing.

Remembering the handkerchief Arthur gave her she presented it to Mrs. Honda, who took it and wrapped it carefully around her head (it was a rather large handkerchief) after taking her hat off. Proud with the end product of her work and slightly worried that it wouldn't stop bleeding, Mrs. Honda said something she again didn't understand and nudged her towards the entrance. After waving goodbye to the Honda family, Lovina and Ivan (who just stood and smiled) walked off.

**Greetings, I page the break. They call me page break, but I want a cool name, like Carl.**

Walking to the entrance, Lovina remembered that she didn't put her hat back on; thinking she left it behind she began to turn around. Halfway around, she noticed that Ivan had grabbed it for her, and seemed fascinated with the sunflower on her hat.

Taking the hat from Ivan, Lovina detached the sunflower and with the pin, attached it to Ivan's coat slightly under his scarf. When Ivan gave her the look of 'Are you sure I can have it?' she nodded and walked again, with a happy Ivan following.

It took around ten minutes to find his family; and before he left to be with them, Ivan hugged her with great enthusiasm and in a failed attempt, tried to say 'thank you' and 'bye' in Italian. After saying her goodbyes she found herself alone again, and decided to walk aimlessly until she found her 'family'.

Lovina POV

Ugh... so tired. I want to scratch my head very badly, but I don't want to risk messing up the wrap and bleeding...

Thinking back, I wonder if the nice, creepy guy is okay? I really got him hard. And it's not like it was his fault that he had to kidnap us; it's his boss's fault for not wanting to pay full price in preparing a huge home-welcoming party.

Walking for a while now, I thought I'd see them by now... Maybe they're at an event?

Lost for so long now, maybe I should go to the entrance and say I'm lost... But I don't to go through all that intercom stuff and have people stare at me...

...

Wait, they already are. But why? My hat's covering the wrap on my head so they shouldn't notice...

Maybe... it's one of those 'don't look behind you!' moments; they probably see something or someone tailing me and wondering why I didn't notice yet...

Should I turn around? Crap, now I'm scared... but not that scared! Maybe I should turn, and if it's some creeper I'll just kick him! Yes, I'll do that!

Okay... 1, 2, 3, and-

...No one.

What...?

Then it's me? I touch my face and feel nothing slimy or sticky like blood, so why are they staring?

"Excuse me." I turn around to the voice to see a man with a tag that says: Martino - Volunteer.

"W-what..?" I ask. This guy doesn't seem suspicious...

He bent down to me slightly. "Are you Lovina?"

How'd he know? "Wh-what if it is?"

He smiled like he was relieved of something. "Your grandmother has been looking for you."

"Oh..." So he's a legit employee... not a fake.

Martino laughed a bit shakily, "Thank goodness too. We got calls some hours ago for missing children."

"Really?"

"Yes, but a few minutes ago it was all called off - we were really scared that it was a kidnapping or something."

I look away, slightly nervous. "Oh... that's good." If you only knew... Ah, my head's itchy again.

"Anyway, come on; your grandmother's waiting at arena two for the fifth event - she said that your grandfathers were doing very well in the competition."

"Okay." Ah, now it's just hurting...

It took only five steps for me to fall, everything around me fading to black.

Kidnapper POV

Oh... my body...

Opening my eyes and struggling to get up I see that I'm against the van.

Man, Vargas's have a hard head... inside and out...

I look to my watch and groaned at the time; I am so quitting this job and going back to school.

First though, I have to tell Boss that kidnapping children of people who own things to get discounts and free stuff is not the best idea. I know he's a shy guy and barely talks to strangers outside the company, but this is going to far...

So I guess it's a good thing they escaped... I hope they're okay...

Adriano POV

Little Lady hasn't been gone for so long before...

I guess she really did get kidnapped; I hope she remembered what I told her.

I should have gone with her, but no, they need me for an alternate, very important they said; what if she got hurt or something?

At least she ate before she got lost.

...

...Crap. I forgot about that bird; it stole the whole sandwich...

Oh my gosh, it stole the whole sandwich... And she didn't eat anything for breakfast...

And it's like, almost evening...

Why do I always forget to feed her? I mean, I teach her all the awesome stuff and I forget the little thing that's actually the biggest thing and...

Man, Luci's going to kill me, in a way that I'm not actually being killed, but yeah...

And maybe Alessa and Clara... they really should have come, but no, school is a priority.

And Antonio... the little man is going to flip. I look to see him in the stands with his father, watching the fishing with strange fascination.

...After this, I'm not really fond of fishing unless I'm the one fishing. I'm sure little Lady feels the same way.

* * *

**How was this? Longer than the last one.**

**I'll probably have to edit this later for any errors cause it's like, late now and I'm... *yawn***

**I realize that it's very unrealistic that a five year old's headbutt and do all that, but oh well. She's just that awesome. **

**Oh, and there's a reason, the unnamed girl that is nyo!England got kidnapped, but it won't be known yet until later. **

**Read and Review? **


	13. In this Life comes New Characters

**Hey guys! How are you all doing? Sorry I took so long...**

**Happy Holidays!**

**I made a new poll that's about the longest I ever made before, so please check that out if you hadn't! It has 100 choices! **

**Actually, 100 was the limit...**

**Anyway, here's the next chapter!**

**- Also, there is no chapter mark anymore; I can't really narrow down when they're going to become teenagers yet, so I just... prepare to maybe enjoy the makings of a future romance. Or something like that- (innocent love?) - or at least until I get to that point.**

**Warnings: Language, violence, and the other sorts. And a doctor who's in touch with the Seoul. Along with family twists. That's right... it's plural.**

**See what I did there? **

**Did you?**

**Did you really?**

**I don't own Hetalia! And Carl owns himself.**

* * *

Adriano POV

I'm surprised he didn't go all Spanish Armada on me.

Then again, the English destroyed it. Or is the term British? Both?

Wait... what the heck am I talking about?

Anyway, I'm glad and disappointed that no one came to beat me up, sitting on this stool next to the little Lady.

I mean... it was all my fault! Then again...

I look to see Karen hovering over little Lady; just one look to see a passed out Lovina in the arms of a stranger named Martino with bandages on her head, she went in to full panic mode, along with the 'It's all my fault that our little angel got hurt...' mode of guilt.

It's completely understandable she act this way but... I look to Benedetta, who is talking on the phone for the nearest doctor, because apparently, the one here is on break and went off somewhere.

She... she seems so calm about this, with her face an unemotional mask, even as she looks at Lovina to tell the doctor what her status was. Her eyes say otherwise though, like she's already seen this before. Like as if, inside her mind, she's slowly breaking down, repeating the same words over and over...

_'No, not again...'_

Something's up...

Looking next to little Lady's sleeping form, Antonio fell asleep, holding on to her hand.

So cute! I take out the disposable camera from my satchel and clicked. His parents went off to get tickets for home, while the two Grandpa's were forced to attend the meeting for the semifinals.

I had no doubt... obviously they would advance. Watching them fish is like reading through a book called, "Tales of The Badass Fishermen".

I haven't seen book with that title, but I'm sure that, if someone wrote a book like that, it would be based on them. Or someone else with badass fishing skills.

**Hey Guys, remember me? I'm Carl, and I approve this message. I am a page break.**

After putting up my camera inside my man purse minutes later, I hear foreign language outside in the hallway. The voices get louder, and now I could tell that it's... Korean? And also Chinese...

"I AM HERE, DA-ZE!"

"Don't be so loud aru!"

I look up to see a man with strange curl donning a doctor's coat, with a small little girl with her dark hair in two buns wearing a red jacket dress gripping onto the ends of it, looking very annoyed.

Bending down to the girl, I speak to her in a serious manner. "She's been out for a while now, doctor. Can you understand me?" Like a soap opera...

The little girl nodded gravely and spoke in good Italian. "I understand. Don't worry, I brought some medicine from home with me."

"Wait-! Wait!" the other Asian whined in Italian, "I'm the doctor, not her...! That's it!" Suddenly, the guy disappeared and I feel someone grabbing my chest from behind. "Your breasts belong to me now, da-ze! You have to listen to me now!"

"What does grabbing my manly chest have anything to do with me having to listen to you?" I ask, amused with the situation.

"It..." he let go and his curl drooped, "I... I don't know."

I pat his back and laugh. "It's okay, I was just playing with you; it's just that..." I look back and forth between them, "She just seems more poised and doctor-ly compared to you."

"What, how?! I'm the one wearing a doctor's coat!"

"Coats don't define who you are; it's how you carry yourself in your pants."

"That's doesn't even make sense, da-ze! She's not even wearing pants!"

"Excuse me," says Benedetta, and we all look at her, "Can you please look at Lovina?"

"Oh, okay, da-ze!"

"Sorry," I say.

**Hi, me again. I just want to say thank you, for reading this sentence. Love, Carl. **

Third Person POV

"How is she, doctor?" whispered Karen.

"Hmm...? Call me Yong Soo..." he said, and gestured to the little girl, "And she is Yue."

After a while of examining Lovina, he shared a long look with his little female companion before looking up at them.

"This isn't the first time, am I correct?"

Before the women could speak, Adriano spoke up. "Yeah, it isn't. It's the second."

"I see..."

As he said this, Yue began to take the bandages off and spoke. "She hit her head hard aru," she looked at the women, "What caused this?"

Again, before the women could answer, Adriano spoke up, "I think she tried to break out of something; she was missing for some hours, so I think someone was trying to take her away."

"I think I know what you're talking about aru," said Yue, concentrating at putting the right amount of medicine on Lovina's head while Yong Soo rummaged through his bag for fresh bandages, "We just saw our friends Kiku and Sakura before they departed back to Japan many minutes ago, and he said a girl our age saved him, Sakura, and some others from a man trying to kidnap them."

"Lovi..." They all look down to a sleeping Antonio, while at the same time, a sleeping Lovina grimaced.

But this didn't stop the women, who, after listening to the conversation, from speaking up.

"What is this kidnapping? I haven't heard about this until now-," Karen gestured to Benedetta and her, "We didn't hear anything about this."

"They were trying to keep it only among the employees, but you see, some wealthy families from other countries were invited here for the events; and a few hours back, some of their children went missing at around the same hour," Yue answered.

"That shouldn't have anything to do with Lovina-"

"Wine," Adriano simply stated.

"Wine?" repeated Karen.

"Yeah, you guys have wine, and you're also loaded."

"He's right you know," said Yue, "They would want discounts from you."

"But I put us in with my maiden name in; so there should be no way that someone would know about us unless they're from France."

"And also, I don't think we were even registered with those families," added Benedetta, "We just came here on our own time."

Karen spoke again. "And it wouldn't be for discounts, unless you're buying at a large quantity-"

"Exactly da-ze!" interrupted Yong Soo, "It must be for a party!"

"Aiya! Hurry up and pin the bandage!" directed Yue.

"Oh- oh! Sorry, I got excited."

"Yes, I know."

As the Asians let the women hover over Lovina for a bit after the bandage was put in place, Adriano looked back and forth between them.

"So, are you two step-siblings or something..?" he asked, "Cause you guys don't really look that related..."

"Oh," Yong Soo ruffled Yue's head, "She's my little-big sister-teacher-like-mother who came back from another world between here and heaven and-"

"I'm his adopted sister aru," Yue simply interrupted.

Yong Soo continued to talk as if she hadn't spoken. "So, we come to this agreement with the Wise One where she reincarnates so she can finally-"

"Technically daughter, but he's not really much of a parent figure-"

"-find her lost love, isn't that adorable? The sacrifices were painful in the last one, so this one should be pleasant, especially with the good souls running around in this world-"

"Don't pay any mind to him aru! It's just that, he always wanted to be an author instead of a doctor and now he is letting his creative juices flow-"

"And they deserve it you know? They're both good souls, so I hope they finally get that happy ending da-ze! Happy endings originated in Korea! Lately, she's been angry for some reason, and I think it's because there's no woman in the house-"

"He's always been like this, so please just ignore him-"

"So I'm going to go on blind dates and find her a mother! And I've never been in love before, so I'm really hyped up for this, you know? Last time, she was the parent to me, so now it's my turn! Also-"

"BASTARD, CAN YOU JUST SHUT THE HELL UP?!"

**Hey guys, me again. I wish you guys a happy Holiday from a page break to you *wink* -From Carl**

Lovina POV

That man... Who is he? Ugh... so much talking...

"Little Lady, how was your nap?"

I looked up and frowned at him, lightly touching my apparently new bandages, because it felt different from last time. "Just like that last time I napped like that." No not really, but I'll tell him later.

Luddy wasn't there... Feli became creepy, kind of more violent...

And then I kept hearing whispers...

At least Toni was with me...

No, I did not just think that!

...but at least... he was there... I shudder.

It was darker and colder in there, more than last time...

Suddenly I was lightly smothered by Karen and Benedetta; as I kept answering a 'Yes' to their questions of 'Are you okay?', I felt Toni still clutching on to my hand and looked over at him.

Gah, he's still angry!

I didn't even mean it when I said that... I only said it so Feli wouldn't get all angry...

"How are you aru?" asked the Asian girl who had gotten my attention, "I'm Yue."

"Fi-fine. I'm-"

"I know. I helped re-bandage you, Lovina."

"Oh..."

Then she leaned closer and I tried to lean away. "Wh-what?," I asked.

"He is not angry at you," Yue whispered.

"Wha-? How would you know that?" I whispered back.

"Cause he's not glaring at you aru. He is glaring and directing his anger on the bandages."

"Why?"

"Really aru? I thought it was obvious; anyway, I must warn you now."

**Hello again. It's around 3AM right now, so tired... Says me, sleepy Carl, the pagebreak.**

Third Person POV

"What?" asked Lovina.

"You will be having people hovering over you for the next... maybe two weeks?"

"Ugh... no..." Anything but that!

"Yes. But don't worry, you'll be healed at the end of the week; my medicine is really fast working."

"Then why two weeks?"

"Cause it's them; they're really worried for your well-being, especially since this was your second time." Lifting her hand, she placed it gently on Lovina's forehead, and began to chant softly.

"What are you doing?"

She paused to speak. "Cleansing your mind so you won't get nightmares like that for a long time." She continued her chant.

"Will it work?"

She paused again. "Of course aru. Now let me finish the chant."

"Okay." She then continued her chant.

**Hi, it's me again; like that annoying guy in your voice messages wanting to get with you- Carl**

Normal POV

You know who won the tournament?

Obviously, it was-

No, it wasn't the Grandpas; actually, it was the two hobos who entered on a whim upon receiving a generous donation of fifty bucks.

Those lucky saps.

Although, the Grandpas did win second, which was still good - heck, they were aiming for second.

First place was the money and free cars, which they didn't need, while second place was four jet skies.

You see, the women feared for their bodies at the age they were in, and banned them from purchasing jet skies.

But they didn't say anything about winning jet skies.

Loopholes are awesome!

And so, this prompted Lovina to want to ride one, in which Adriano agreed to teach her on the condition that she had to eat before they ever did anything from now on.

No more repeats of _THAT._

Meanwhile, Antonio and his young self insisted on staying by Lovina's side, which secretly didn't annoy her, but it did bring up weird feels inside both their hearts.

Soon though, they'll understand what that means.

And Adriano will stalk them most of the way, as much as a big brother should, with his camera in hand.

After the tournament, they parted ways with their new Asian friends.

Actually, they parted with one friend.

Right before they were about to depart with each other, Yong Soo received a call from his boss telling him that his vacation was over, and that they were going to send him to Australia until the end of the year, which is for about two months. They didn't want him back anytime soon, and since he was fluent in more language than any of the other doctors, might as well just send him away now.

He was a really great doctor, but they just can't handle him coming back and explaining things to him like, if the bathrooms were broken or not...

In other words, they're lazy to welcome someone back that works there; they already sent three other of their doctors on vacation to Moscow.

Such laziness...

Anyway, Yong Soo didn't want Yue to have to move around with him since he read this parent to child book on how moves take a lot out of a child, and asked Adriano to take care of her.

Of course, Benedetta pointed out that Adriano was only fifteen and that Karen and she would take care of her, while Yue pointed out that she can take care of herself.

Either way, they reached an agreement that she'll stay with the Santos until he came back.

So now, as they ride on the train back home, they only worried about one thing.

How will they face the wrath of Luci?

Cause admittedly, Julius isn't much of a threat.

* * *

**Woo. How was that? **

**The Christmas chapter is going to be a bit late... oh well. **

**Haha, Yong Soo as the parent? I thought that was interesting... XD**

**When you drift in conversation, one tends to skip something, but later, it will return to be asked once more.**

**The reason Feli had gone more creepy and violent is because of the change with Feli herself; she's going through training to become mafia!Feli, though she will still be 'Feli' in a way...**

**Can you guess what Karen's maiden name is? Honhonhon...**

**Read & Review!**


	14. May I ask for Your Name?

******EDIT: Adriano's fiancée is not Finland! I repeat, not Finland. Sorry I forgot to add that. But his fiancée is connected to Finland and the other Nordics, I'll tell you this now.**

* * *

**Happy New Years, all of you! **

**Gosh, looking through these chapters, it seems to become either good, or gradually from decent to worse, with mostly dialogue or not enough detail... *facepalms***

**And I don't really have a new years resolution... **

**Maybe it should be confidence improvement? But then it probably won't go well... *sighs***

**Warning: Language, cursing, and the likes. I planned this out, but I let it happen early. I must retain to the plot of my story!**

**Hey, should I get a Beta Reader? I don't really know how that works...**

**I don't own Hetalia. Carl does whatever. **

* * *

Lovina POV

"Wake up, Little Lady." Hmmm...?

"Yeah, wake up Lov." Don't wanna, Alessa.

"Wake up aru! Or the food's going to get cold!" Breakfast...

"Guys, she's not going to get up if you're looming over her like that." Gah, she turned on the lights! Why Clara?!

Why, why?! I get up and hear footsteps leaving my room, but not everyone left.

"Clara?"

"Hmm?"

"You should go eat..."

"I already did. Come on, let's go wash your face."

"Okay," I say.

It's been a month now, and to me, it's like any other day, plus Yue. Mr. Julius and Ms. Luciana were alright with her staying, but they raged when they saw the bandages on my head. I shudder; that day should never be spoken of. Ever. Good thing Yue broke the tense atmosphere with fake crying and saying random things in Chinese like the situation had terrified her. Or maybe she really was terrified. It was just that scary.

It's interesting, having a friend that's a girl; and she's a fast learner like Adriano and I, so it's really fun- but don't get wrong, it wasn't like, super fun, but it was fun!

Sucks that she's going to leave at the end of the year. And then Toni's going to go to school later to who knows where...

And then I find out that Clara and Alessa want to study abroad, which was why they've been gone a lot for preparation.

Then Adriano has to take over his father's company when he's eighteen and start a family with his pretty Finnish fiancée that I have yet to meet...

And I'll just be here. By myself. Alone. But I won't be lonely! I really won't...

...I hate it when I think like this. Hate it.

"Lov? Are you okay?"

I wipe my eyes. "It's nothing. I'm just being stupid."

"Don't say that."

"I'm being stupidly sentimental."

"We'll come visit."

"W-who says I was thinking about that?!" But I was...

"Oh, Lov. Do you want to talk about it?" By this point, we were back from the bathroom and she was picking out my clothes.

Yeah. "...You guys aren't going to come visit."

"We will."

"No, you won't; you're going to fall in love, forget about me, get married, remember to invite me to the wedding, raise a family, forget about me, and la la la. Same with Alessa; but it'll be okay, cause you guys will be all happy and shit."

"Lov..."

"And when Mr. Julius and Ms. Luciana have their kid, I'm going to watch over them and be all security guard on them. I'm going to install detection instruments and everything."

"How will you get those?"

"When I get older, I'll know a person, who knows another person, who knows that person's cousin-"

Suddenly, I was being tickled by her hands. "S-t-st-stop!"

Clara stops and hands me clothing. "Oh, Lov. Don't think about that stuff. It won't happen yet, so let's just have fun together, okay?"

"..." I look down a bit and mumbled, "Okay..."

"Let's get dressed now, Okay?"

"Mm-hmm..."

When we arrived at the table, I went to sit in between Yue and Ms. Luciana. Mr. Julius had apparently already gone to work. Mr. Cornelio, Mr. Alberto, Grandma, and Mamie (they'll yell at me if I didn't call them that) had gone home a long time ago to Mamie and Mr. Alberto's vacation house in France to get their Christmas event ready.

Mamie told me that their going to host this year's and that they have to make sure that it was going to be perfect and all that. It was scary when she said 'perfect', cause it looked like she was going to kill someone if one thing went wrong.

"Good morning, Lovina," says Ms. Luciana, "We're all going to go shopping today."

"Oh, okay." I can see Yue getting excited; she liked the open market here for ingredients, but then she'll say the one she used to go to was better and all that. It didn't really make sense at first, but I realized later that she said it because it allowed her to remember her home because she was having fun here.

I'm not really sure how homesickness works like that, but whatever.

**Happy New Years, from yours truly, Carl. Someday, I want to break the fourth wall with my break-ness.**

Still Lovina POV

Why didn't see this coming? Three minutes in and I already got lost.

Maybe I really am stupid...

No! I'll find them! And I have money with me, so I'll buy something to eat so I won't faint like last time!

I am prepared! I'll show you, old lady who's staring worriedly at me! I'll find them! I don't need those security guards who help lost children!

...Oh, no, she's walking towards that security guard. I start running, and then walking into a passing crowd like I'm with them. Now they won't see me...

...I really shouldn't have drunk that soda Alessa gave me, I feel hyper and drained at the same time.

"Are you lost?" I look up to see a man with sideburns, a rainbow apron on him, looking a tad bit concerned.

He felt familiar... Man, if this guy had a goatee, he would look like...

...Oh hell no.

I just stared. And stared.

He was confused at first, but when he finally realized who I was he clamped my mouth shut and carried me into the tent he was running.

Once we were inside, he let me go. "Please don't scream, please don't scream..." He put his hands together and looked at me pleadingly.

I frowned, he seemed pretty desperate. "Okay, okay, bastard. But what happened?" It's like he's a whole new person without his goatee...

"I quit with my other job and got this one and I actually like it, so please-"

I waved him off. "It's okay, I won't scream. So the discount thing-"

"You knew?"

"Of course." Tch, it was so obvious...

"Well, he ended up renting a huge restaurant after I yelled at him and left."

"Good job."

"T-thanks, I guess."

"Nice to know you survived my headbutt."

"Yeah, it hurt a lot."

"I ended up bleeding."

He looked at me in shock. "What?! Really?"

"Well, I'm five. I'm delicate." Like a tissue.

"Oh yeah. Somehow I just forget. Well, how about one on the house?"

"Really?"

"Yeah, your head hitting was like a calling, and I ended up in something I enjoy, so I want to give my thanks."

"Oh, th-thanks..." This is kind of weird...

"No, thank you. Here, come to the front and sit on the stool and wait for your gelato."

**Happy happy jakakajanjajajajanka jingle page jangle breakkkk-ahhh! With music -Carl**

Third Person POV

A man stood at his stand, putting out the samples and kept a watchful eye on the employee handing out flyers. He wanted to be sure that everyone knew about his pizzeria.

He wanted it clean, and he wanted it peaceful.

He also had some pasta dishes for people try and had seats ready.

Maybe, if he had done this earlier, his family could have been happier... with everyone...

"You look sad." He looked over the stand and down to see a small girl looking wise for her years.

"It's nothing, kid. And it wouldn't be any of your business." He resumed his original posture.

"..." After he heard no response he assumed that the girl left and resumed his work.

"But you look like you want to say something." He looked over and down to see that the girl remained and frowned.

"Are you lost or something?"

"No."

"Where are your parents?"

"They're dead."

"...Tch. Anyway, go back to your guardian or something."

"Did you lose something precious?"

He took a deep breath and released. "Look, I'm in no mood for-"

"Cause you look like my friend."

He froze.

**Pagebreakpagebreakpaidbread, love Carl, she totallywon'tlet me have my pagebreakthefourthwall.**

Normal POV

"..."

"How is it?"

"...What planet are you from?"

He smiled. "So I take that it's good?" While Lovina sat in the front sitting on a stool, he was behind the stand doubled as a counter and watched his customer's reaction.

She looked at him, almost smiling and happy. "Damn right it's good! It's... The flavor..." She began bouncing in her seat.

"Whoa, calm down," he put a hand on her head to stop her from bouncing, "Just calm down and eat. My thanks."

"Okay," she said happily.

After a while, he decided to talk. "You seem happier."

"Well... yeah sort of..."

"Is something wrong?" He propped his elbows on the counter and rested his head on his hands, "Is it boy trouble?"

She blushed. "I-I'm five, you bastard!"

"Then, something else then?"

She maintained her flushed cheeks and looked to the side. "We-well..."

"Oh, so there is something..."

"You better not tell anyone!"

"Don't worry, there is no danger in that."

"Oh...okay...Umm... Let's say th-that there's a person- umm... make three-no four people-"

"Like siblings?"

"Th-three of them yeah... and they have to move away-"

"What about that? Are you afraid they won't spend time with you anymore?"

"Wha? N-n-no-"

"It's okay. You know, I have a big sister I was so attached to when I was little."

"I-is that so?"

"Yeah, and I was so against her leaving with her boyfriend to go to university."

"Then what happened?"

"I didn't like it; it took me around two months to get used to her being gone."

"She never came back?"

"She came to visit, but no she never stayed for too long; months later she got married."

"Ohh..."

"But you know, thinking back... I'm okay with it now- it's now like I was going to stick to her forever. I had to grow up."

Lovina silently signaled him to continue while eating gelato. He continued again when no one came around to his stand.

"I visited her though and she took me out to eat and stuff and vice versa for me when I was old enough to pay, so it's not like I lost her completely," he shrugged, "All in all she's still my sister and she has her life, and I have mine, so..."

After a pause he smiled and patted her on the head. "I think you'll understand later, so don't worry. You know, the more years pass, you're just going to meet more and more people you're going to care about, so you won't ever get lonely, and they won't get lonely cause they're going to meet people too. When my sister left, my friends kind of helped me out by getting distracted with school activities. I don't really talk with those friends anymore, but I have friends here I talk to."

"But what about your other friends?"

"They have their own life to live, and when I do come around to see them, I say 'Hello' and catch up with them. And then after that, we just go our separate ways."

"But is that okay?"

He shrugged. "I guess so; sometime later I'm going back down there to see my parents, and I'll go say my greetings."

He looked to see her frowning in thought at his words before looking at her gelato. "You know, it's kind of melting."

She looked up at him and the gelato in surprise and resumed eating; for a while she ate in silence while he handed out flyers.

"Lovi?" She turned around turned around to see Antonio and Amaranto while the man just looked at them before grabbing a flyer and handing it to them.

"Um, thanks," said Amaranto.

Meanwhile, Antonio ran to hug her until she put a hand in front of him. "Let me finish my gelato."

"Oh, okay~"

"This your friend?" asked the gelato man.

"Yeah," she faced Antonio, "This is the man, the one who used to have the goatee."

Some seconds later, the gelato man faced Antonio's glare, while his father was distracted with the gelato choices to not notice.

The gelato man looked to Lovina for help. "Is... is he..?"

"Hmm?" She took her attention away from her gelato and looked at Antonio. "It's okay, he's a good guy now."

To the gelato man, it was as if the boy flipped an internal switch and it was frightening. "Okay Lovi~ Can I have some?"

"No."

"What? Why?!"

"Cause your dad's still trying to make a choice. Just be patient, tomato bastard."

"Oh... "

**Do bop do bop do waaaaa! Carl here, Happy Holidays! Page out!**

Third Person POV

"There's no way you could know her."

"Hmm? And how would you know that?"

"...Please go back to your guardian."

"But you really look like Lovina aru."

The man put his hands into fists, and his employee watched worriedly from the side. He really was in no mood for this. "We Italians, we-some of us look alike! And there are other girls named Lovina!"

She looked at him emotionlessly, before choosing her words. "You are right. So maybe I could have mistaken?"

"Yes," he said coldly," You have mistaken, little girl."

"Hmm. I'll just let you think that; my assumptions are almost always correct aru."

He just glared at her.

"Since you seem to want no help-"

"I don't need your help- you don't know anything."

"Nonetheless, when the day comes that you're reunited I'll be there to say I told you so, and relieve the backache you're going to have in the future."

"I won't get no backache."

"Oh, you will. From the way I see you're working and torturing yourself."

He continued his glare. "Will you please just-"

"-go back to my guardian?" she finished his sentence and held up three fingers.

"What are you-"

She counted down... 3, 2, 1...

"Yue, where are you?" called a woman's voice.

He looked in surprise before glaring back at the girl when she stuck her tongue out at him before leaving to join her current guardian.

**Backagainpageagainlalalalala lalihohohohpagebreakloveCarl .**

Normal POV

"This really is good!" says Antonio in delight. His father nodded in agreement.

"I know, right? Hey," Lovina looked over at the gelato man, "What's your name, anyway?"

"Oh? Just call me Rio. Everyone calls me that."

"Okay, so where is your shop going to be?"

He thought for a bit. "Well, my Boss wanted it I think, about a block away from here? I'm not sure."

"Well," said Amaranto, "We'll be sure to come visit."

"We'll be waiting!"

"Ah, Lov!" They look to see Alessa run towards them. "There you are! Oh," She waved at Antonio and Amaranto, "Hello!"

She looked back at Lovina, "We've been looking everywhere for you! Adriano got Ms. Luci worried to the point where he joked about your last disappearance and she's worried sick. And Yue went missing too! It's time to go back!"

"Oh, that's right," said Amaranto, "Maria's waiting back home," he began to walk off, "Let's go Toni, or your Mama's going to kill us."

"Okay, Papa!" He got off the stool and ran to his father.

Amaranto looks back to Rio, "Thanks!"

"Yeah, thank you!" says Antonio.

"You're welcome!" says Rio as they watch them run off.

"Us too," says Alessa, "Let's go, Lov."

"Okay."

"Ah, wait..." Lovina stops to look back while Alessa continues walking off.

Abruptly she was handed a container of gelato. She looked up to see him smiling. "My thanks. Come visit soon, okay?"

She flushed. "Ar-are you sure?"

"Of course. You better go catch up with her."

"Oh...Um... Th-thank you.." she mumbled.

He laughed. "You're not really used to this huh? Well, hurry now or you're going to get lost."

She nodded and ran off to catch up with Alessa.

**OhYeahI'mSoPageBreakin'AwesomeWithSauceThatTastesLi keMaple- Carl**

"So, did you have fun?" Lovina asked Yue after they took a bath and laid down on Lovina's bed after changing into their nightgown.

"Really fun aru! I met an interesting person today."

"Who was it?"

"I think you'll meet him later, so don't worry about it."

"You too? People have been telling me similar things to that today."

Suddenly, they heard Julius from the kitchen. "Ooh, you guys bought gelato?"

All it took was a blink and Yue found Lovina no longer in the room.

"It's mine, bastard!"

"But-"

"It was given to me, it's mine!"

"I want some-"

"Too bad! I was going to share it with everyone tomorrow, but now I'm not going to give any to you!"

"What?! That's not fair!"

"Life's not fair!"

"Wait, Lovina!" Yue called from the room, "Do a trade!"

"What?" said Julius.

"Yeah, Boss," Adriano yelled from the living room, "Listen to the little girls!" Alessa and Clara giggled from right next to him.

"Take me anywhere I want until I'm old enough to drive, and you can have gelato with everyone else tomorrow."

"But...But..Fine then! I just won't eat some!"

"..."

"..."

"Okay! Fine! But I better get a good enough portion!"

"Hah," said Adriano, "You loser! You could have bought some on your own time and avoid all this!"

"..."

"..."

"...I hate you guys."

"Hmm? What's all this yelling?" Luciana asks as she comes down the stairs.

"They're all being mean to me, Lu."

"Aww, poor Jul. But you know, it's your fault for going along with it."

And thus, the night ended with someone crying on the inside.

* * *

**Man, Julius, you need to prove yourself. You have just been peer pressured.**

**Okay guys, next chapter's a mock christmas, then after that is the chapter where they go to France to have their real christmas... Bwahahahaha! Might as well, just tell you guys now.**

**I'm kind of scared for the future minor pairings; some people will like, some will hate...**

**Your thoughts on this chapie? Please review!**

**You guys have made me happy, so thank you! **


	15. An Early Christmas Mock Party!

**Hey guys! **

**I'M SO SORRY. It's been a long while huh? So here's a long chapter to make up for it!**

**School is... and I found- um...**

**A-anyway...**

**How do you like the new picture? I drew little Antonio, but it didn't really turn out well, so I just took a pic of Lovina by herself, with Antonio's hand folded out awkwardly on the side. **

**Forgive me, Toni!**

**Anyway, happy reading! **

**I don't own Hetalia. And Carl... I just don't know.**

**Warning: This chapter was so fun to write. Language, cursing, etc. New characters are introduced! **

* * *

Julius glanced at Lovina as he parked the car temporarily to drop her off at the newly opened gelato-and-whatever shop. He doesn't know the complete details, only that the little girl wanted to be dropped off here before he went to work.

Suddenly, she gets out without saying goodbye, so he gets out quickly to find himself bent down in front of her so he could say a goodbye properly and ask her if she has everything, like a doting father should.

"Lovina-" he started.

"I remember the numbers to your cell phone and the house, I have the pepper spray you gave me ten minutes ago. Tch, what else you need, Mr. Julius?" she asked with a slightly annoyed look on her face.

Ah... it's really hard to be fatherly when the child already seems well on her own at age five.

It really hurt. Especially when she calls you by your first name with the polite 'mister' at the front.

Doesn't that imply she's not really close to you?

"Umm.. do you have the money?" he asked.

"Yeah."

"Are you okay on your own?"

"I have Rio," she simply said, pointing to a man wiping the counter from where Julius could see close to the entrance.

As if being called, the man turned and spotted them, and smiled.

That's when Julius looks at him and then to Lovina in alarm and goes to grab her shoulders.

"Wh-What, Mr. Julius? Don't just grab someone like that!"

Ignoring her, he goes closer to her and frantically whispers to her as if he didn't want anyone else but her to hear while Rio looked at them curiously. "Are you sure you'll be okay?! He doesn't look safe!"

"Wha-?" she looks at Rio before understanding what Julius seemed to panic over, "Oh, that. He always smiles like that, don't worry. He's a good guy." She patted his head in reassurance. Then and there, she promised to herself that she'll teach the Rio to smile properly, for the sake of him and people like Mr. Julius.

"I'm not sure..." Julius continued.

"Hey, don't you have work?"

"Oh..? Oh! Ah..." he kisses her quickly on the forehead, "Stay safe, okay?" He got up and began to get in the car.

"Okay, bye..." she rubbed her forehead with a pout before waving farewell. After he seemed far away enough, she goes into the store.

**Sorry SaySaeri is taking so long! The little thing's been having homework and finally found- *gets stick hit***

Adriano sighs as he trims the bush, turning it into a pineapple. He was so bored! The girls were working, and Little Lady just had to leave to meet the gelato man...

"Hey aru!" He turned to see the other little Lady run up to him clad in red.

"I thought you'd be with the Little Lady."

"I'm helping getting ready for the Christmas party."

"Oh? Ah, I forgot about that for a minute. Do you want anything?"

"Eh? Um... There's nothing I particularly want or anything aru."

"Are you sure? You and Little Lady said the same thing."

"Well... We're grateful for the things we already have, so..."

"But you don't want toys?"

"What would I do with that? We're going to grow out of it, so there's no point aru."

"That's just it. Don't think about the long run, you're just five. Enjoy your childhood now and just ask for something childish, like a pony."

"Why a pony?"

"I lot of little girls want a pony!"

"I don't want one though."

"Exactly!"

"I... I don't think I get it aru..."

Adriano sighs once more and Yue thinks of a question. "Wait, what did you want when you were our age?"

He looks at her in thought. "... I don't think I really wanted anything. There was nothing I really wanted..."

"..."

"..? What?"

She suddenly brings out a plastic wok and tries to beat him with it. "You hypocrite aru!"

"Haaha ha-hey! Do you really think you get do damage to me with that?!"

She stops and pouts, looking sourly at the fake wok. "Yong Soo used his adult power to take my real one away, saying nonsense at how little children shouldn't be playing with such things! Honestly, I can't believe I raised such a child aru!"

"...Raised?"

"..."

"..."

"..!" She begins to beat him again. "Forget you heard anything aru!"

"Oh-okay! How about I get you a real wok?"

She slowly stops. "A real wok?"

"Wait... Can you even carry the weight of a real wok?"

"Of course aru! I'm strong enough to rearrange everything in the living room! And I can do this!" Then she proceeded to take the trimmer out of Adriano's hands and began jumping around the bush and trimming it with ease, turning to the shape of a curled dragon.

Adriano thought, as he watched her trimming in a jump-dance like fashion, _'Females are truly terrifying creatures'_.

***Puts icebag on his head* Carl pagebreak here. She can be so shy about the most random things! Honestly...**

"You want a job?" Rio looked questionally at the little girl sitting on the stool in front of the counter.

She blushed and looked down in embarrassment. "O-only for a day! Just enough to buy something."

"You know, it's not like you owe them anything. You're only five after all."

"But..." She put her head down on the counter, "They saved my life..."

"Ah..."

"I told myself I'll protect them and their children when I get older and become badass and everything, but for now, I just want to give a little thanks through a card or something..."

He regarded her carefully. "Only cause they saved your life?"

She looked up at him surprise. "Wha... N-not just they sa-saved my life, I-I mean..." She blushed and played with the ruffles of the sun dress she was wearing. "The-they take care of me, and it's really fu-fun with them... and I got to meet everyone, like Toni... You... and Yue... everyone..."

"..."

"Wh-what?!"

"You really are a nice and loving kid, aren't you?"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"I mean it literally, you're a nice and loving kid. But you kind of seem to take things out on yourself."

"Is that a bad thing?"

"Kind of. I mean, you're want to make everyone happy, and you seem to see yourself as a burden."

"Well, I'm not their real kid..."

"Does that really even matter? They still took you in, right? I mean, your father seems to love you."

"Mr. Julius?"

"Yeah, him. And then you just childishly brushed him off when he kissed you on the forehead, like every embarrassed kid does."

"Eh... but that doesn't really..."

"I know, but at least it's something right? You know, if they didn't care, you'd be at the orphanage by now."

"..."

"You know, they probably won't be wanting anything from you either. They'll probably want to know what you want, like any caring parent would."

"But..."

"If you still want to give them something, then just say your thanks. And then when you get older and have your own money, do what you want."

"Okay... I guess..."

After a pause, he asks her, "Your father seemed really freaked out when he saw me. Was my smile...?"

"Yeah, you really need to work on it."

He sighs, "Really... It's not that bad, is it?"

"Let's say that, if you looked like you did when you kidnapped me, you would be arrested by now."

"A-are you serious?!"

'DUN DUN DUN! DUN DUN DUN!'

"What the hell is that?" Lovina asked as Rio took out his cell phone to look at it.

"My boss. Hmm... He's going to come check this place out in a few minutes."

"What's he like?"

"He's kind of weird. Came here from Turkey with his nephews and his tulip wagon, and he wears a mask."

"Weird. Hey, who else works here?"

"Right now it's just me. I think he wanted his nephews to work here though, somewhere in the back or something."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. Not to mention its kind of lonely."

"But you've got a good amount of customers."

"It's good, but they're not really talkers... Which is why we can keep up our conversation without anyone interrupting..."

"Kind of unusual."

"I agree." They just kept pointing to what they wanted on the menu.

**SaySaeri- I wonder what you would look like, Carl. Carl - Me too... Somehow, I think of red-orange hair...**

Karen stepped back and looked at her work on the tree. "Simply beautiful! Ah, I am happy..."

"Gra... Grand-mère..." Small voices of two whispered.

Karen looked down and smiled softly. "Is there something you want to ask, Mathieu? Madeline?"

She was happily they could finally talk after not being able to a few weeks back. Five years now able to talk, she was grateful they found their voice, even if it was a bit weak and barely audible.

"M...fr...Francis... said... we have a new cousin...?" asked Matthew, Madeline clutching onto his arm at his side.

"Ah, oui... Lovina is her name. She can seem... a bit blunt, but she's a nice girl and she's your age."

"Wa... Really...?" says Madeline.

"Oui. So tell Amelia and Alfred to be nice to her too, d'accord?"

They nodded and ran out of the room in little pitter-pats to their twin cousins.

**Carl - Of course, I'm good looking, enough to make an impact. SaySaeri - What do you mean by that?**

Antonio sat at his desk, writing.

He didn't tell his Lovi yet, but he has a penpal- two of them- that he writes to at least once a week.

They're really fun to write to; it turns out they'll be going to the same academy soon, so that's something to look forward to very much.

He paused and frowned. If he left... Lovi will be alone, somewhat.

But then, what if she made a new friend...?

...A new best friend...

He frowned more as his expression darkened. What if...

She forgot about him? He shook his head. Lovi would never forget him! Never!

Maybe... maybe they could mail each other! Yes!

And then they will be penpals too and never forget each other!

He smiled.

No matter what, he will always be with Lovi, far away or not.

He looked down at his paper- he already finished the one for Francis, now it's just Gilbert.

Thinking back to Francis's letter to him this week, he wrote that he's having some of his family here in Italy going over to France soon.

His smile grew wider. It'd be so cool if he got to meet those relatives!

It would be like everyone he knew was connected to each other somehow.

**Carl - People would swoon at my feet, females would blush. Hohoho... SaySaeri - Sure... -_-**

Yue sped through the study with the duster.

She will make sure no dust is left unpunished!

The women had to go shop for more supplies leaving Yue to house sit. They took Adriano with them to carry the heavy stuff.

Yue didn't mind, it meant they deemed her responsible enough alone for a guest, and so, she cleaned with pride.

Thack! "Ah..." She accidently bumped a book to the floor.

As she picked it up, a picture fell to the ground. Picking it up, she looked at it curiously, seeing how old it seemed.

Her eyes widened slightly at it, before looking at it thoughtfully.

In the picture, seemed to be a slightly younger Benedetta, Cornelio, Alberto, and Karen, "Aiya, they haven't really changed...", and a younger Julius and Luciana, holding hands.

There were other kids and people, but Yue's eyes stared at the girl standing next to Luciana, holding her free hand that wasn't held by Julius.

She looked a lot like Lovina, minus the curl sticking out defiantly on the side of her head.

Also, the girl... looked calmer and delicate, her eyes softening at the camera.

Yue flipped to the back of the photo. _'Year XXXX, Julius and Luciana's 9th birthday together!' _and on the bottom left corner, _'Chiara (age 13) is about to leave to the World International school in a few days.'_

"Chiara?" says Yue aloud.

Suddenly, she heard Luciana's voice from downstairs. "Yue! We're home! Can you help us bring stuff in?"

"Ah...! Okay..." She put the photo back in the page it was in.

Once she saw the page though, she paused yet again.

_'HEADLINE: Shooting at XXX Train Station! 3 killed, 4 injured, 6 missing in action! All from World University!'_

_Why..._ She felt chills run down her spine; and quickly closed the book, putting it back.

_Why...?_ She ran downstairs to Alessa, who handed over some vegetables, "Can you go ahead and put these up?"

"Okay aru!"

_Why...?!_ She opened the slot in the refrigerator and put them in individually.

_Why did does it suddenly feel like I'm missing something important about all this?_

_Why did I bump into that book?_

_Why do I feel like... like I'm..._

"Hey Yue," said Adriano, "I decided to buy a wok from this site where they engrave onto the steel for you. What do you want..."

"Wwaaaahhhh!"

"Y-Yue? What's wrong? Why are you crying?"

**Carl - When are you going to put me in? My body's ready. SaySaeri - Not yet. **

Lovina looked warily at Rio. The man looked like he wanted to bury himself alive and never resurface.

"Ca-can you please repeat that...? Sir?" asked Rio to his boss that suddenly banged through the door, dragging in three kids; one seemed to be some at least three years older than her, and one her age, carrying a baby.

"What? You didn't hear it?! Please be the 'Aunt' to my nephews!" The Turk said loudly.

"Can't I be the 'Uncle'?"

"Cause I'm the 'Uncle!'"

"..." All Rio could do was just stare at him, annoyed.

Suddenly, the masked man looked at Lovina. "Think about your little girl."

"E-excuse me?" My little girl?!

"She probably wants siblings to play with."

"But she's not my kid!"

"Tch, could have fooled me."

"We don't even look alike!"

"Do it or you're fired!"

"But it's not my responsibility!"

"It is now!"

"What will the mother of these children think?!"

"She's dead! So is the father!"

"...!"

"..."

Lovina coughed to temporarily stop their conversation. "Tch, you guys are making it awkward. Just say you'll watch over them here as they work, but you're not going home with them cause it'll be weird."

"Lovina, you make it so simple..."

She rolled her eyes. "Only because he asked you in the strangest way and you overreacted because it freaked you out."

"Uh... yes..." Rio looked at his boss, "Sorry sir... Yes, I'll help take care of them... I guess."

The man beamed and ruffled his head. "Ah! You are a good man! Just call me Sadik!"

Rio shook his hand off. "May I ask Mr. Sadik, but why me?"

"Because you're the closest one. Oh also, I moved in next to your apartment."

"What?!"

"Oh," says Lovina, "There goes the not going home with them part..."

Thus, Rio's life takes a turn for the strangest.

**Carl - I want reading glasses, and be at least 5' 8''. SaySaeri - Do you want a love interest?**

Now off of work, Julius walked around the mall.

He got everyone something, except for Lovina and Yue.

Of course.

He sighed; Lovina... did she even want anything?

Maybe a dictionary? Translation books? Language? She said she wanted to learn Japanese... Russian...

She's not exactly normal...

Maybe this time, he'll just ask her... He takes out his cell phone and calls home.

"Hello aru?"

"Yue? Is Lovina there?"

"No, she's still at the gelato shop."

"What?" It's evening now!

"Just go call the shop. I'll be hanging up now; Adriano's trying to torch things for fun." 'Beep'

So now, he contacts the gelato shop.

"Hello?"

"Umm... Is Lovina still there?"

"Oh! You're Julius right? Yes, she's here. Lovina! Your father's on the phone!"

"What is it, Mr. Julius?" asked Lovina as she picked up the phone.

"I'm at the mall; is there anything you want for Christmas?"

"... Hold on." He hears talking in the background, followed by a crash.

"Lovina?! Are you okay?"

"Oh...Oh, I'm okay, Sadik just banged the door open for some reason. For Christmas, can you buy baby supplies?"

"What?"

"Sadik has a baby nephew and he doesn't have the right stuff or something like that. So for Christmas, can you get baby stuff?"

"You don't want anything?"

"No, I want baby stuff. That's what I want."

"I'll buy for them, so what do you want?"

"It's okay, the baby stuff is fine. I don't need anything."

"Really, Lovina..."

"..."

"Lovina...?"

"I... I have you guys, so I'm good. S-so really, don't get an-anything for me, okay?!" 'beep'

Ah, she hung up... Julius looked at the phone in thought. "That girl..."

He continued walking. Lovina and Yue are the first kids, other than Adriano when he was young, he's ever known that didn't really want anything...

If it's like that, then he should get something they need on the long run, right?

Something reusable... and replacable...

**Carl - Hm... I don't know... SaySaeri - Take your time. As long as you want, actually.**

Lovina looked in front of the mirror, trying to flatten the curl, but it won't...

"Why?!" Is this even hair?!

Yue comes in the room, wearing another red outfit, contrasting Lovina's green one. "Just leave it aru. It's never going to go down."

Lovina huffs and puts down the brush. Yue looks at her curiously. "So when are you coming out of the room?"

"Until they go home."

"Eh, you know you can't-" Yue grabs Lovina's hand, "Come on, let's go out and see if the guests want anything, it's the least we can do."

"...Fine." Lovina aims for the window.

* * *

"I meant come out of the room the normal way, Lovina. What if our dresses get dirty? Ms. Luciana may get angry."

"Tch, it won't. We're careful kids."

"So what now? Do we go in through the back now aru?"

"Let's just hang out here."

"But everyone else is inside-"

"No, not everyone," Adriano says as he comes out of nowhere. "Gah, I don't like parties."

"Wait aru. Aren't your parents here?"

"Yeah."

"Then why are you out here?"

"They keep trying to set me up."

"But don't you have a-"

"Yes."

"Then why?"

"I don't know. They're weird."

"What are you doing for actual Christmas again?" asked Lovina.

"Hang with my fiancée and her family. My parents are going on a pleasure cruise."

"But family aru..."

"You guys are family, so it's okay. Hey, since we're all together, why don't we all go in now?"

Lovina crossed her arms. "No."

"Aww, afraid of the big people who'll want to pinch your cheeks?"

"O-of course not!"

"Eh... I kind of am now aru..."

"Yes," said Adriano, "You should be afraid. One time when I was little, I got pinched so hard my right cheek was bigger than my left for a month."

"Wh-what?"

"Yes, and it hurt so much!" I'm getting scarred in my mind for even remembering...

* * *

"You know, you can stop clinging to my legs now," says Adriano as they come into the kitchen, "Even if you two are light, some people are giving me dirty looks, and I don't really want to know why."

"Uh... hello." They turned to see Rio come in with one of Sadik's nephews, Heracles.

"You're here!" said Lovina, going to cling on Rio's legs, "It'll be okay now, cause you look sort of threatening nowadays."

"Sort of...?"

"But then," said Adriano, "He's going to receive even more dirty looks than I ever did."

Yue looked at them, "Where's this masked man I've heard about earlier?"

"Oh," answered Rio, "He's out there, shamlessly advertising with the other nephew and the baby."

"There's a baby aru?!" With that, she sped out of the room in haste.

"Do you want anything, Heracles?" asked Rio.

He simply shook his head.

"He can't speak Italian yet?" asked Adriano.

"Yeah, but he can understand a bit and speak a certain selection of words...," Rio muttered.

"What?"

"That 'Uncle' of his taught him..."

"What?"

As if to demonstrate, Heracles goes to point at one of the pasta dishes and comes back to Rio. "Auntie, can I have that ...to eat?"

"..."

"..."

"Pfft, 'Auntie'?"

"Sh-shut up! It's all Sadik's fault!" That guy's nuts!

* * *

"Luciana, it just seems so lively this year!"

"Well, we have more guests that last year..."

"Isn't it always that way? The more the merrier!"

Another friend speaks up, "So where's this Lovina?"

"Ooh, yeah. Where is she?" says another.

"Somewhere, she's pretty shy when it comes to strangers."

One of her older friends laugh, "So adorable, the tough ones are always like that!"

"The tough ones?" asks another friend.

"Oy," one of the guys come over, "When's Julius getting here?"

"Soon, soon."

She was right. As soon as she said that, Julius rushed through the door, bags of already wrapped presents along his arms. "Um... Sadik, right? Can you come here?" asked Julius, huffing from his rush.

Sadik rushes towards him, "Yes?"

"Where's your car? I need to put these in..."

"Oh, here just give them to me and... Rio, come here!"

Rio comes to the entrance, Lovina still sticking onto his legs. Heracles stayed behind in the kitchen, eating contentedly.

"What, Mr. Sadik?"

"It's just Sadik, and help me put these in the car."

"Okay... Lovina can you get off?" After she gets off, they proceed to take the bags into the car.

Julius goes to pat Lovina on the head, "I guess that there's one of your Christmas presents."

"One of...?"

"Did you really think I got you nothing?"

* * *

"Oh gosh, she's so cute! So is the other one!"

Lovina looked down blushing, unable to meet the eyes of the other women as they pinched her cheeks. Meanwhile, Yue smiled and pretended to enjoy the attention of the doting women while she held Sadik's baby nephew, with Sadik and the other nephew sitting by.

From afar, Alessa, Clara, and Adriano pitied them.

"Ah, remember the days when we were in that situation?" says Adriano.

"Yeah... Good times," says Clara, "Good times..."

"..."

After some silence, the three said all together, "No... no they weren't."

With Rio, he realized how silent Heracles was; and it kind of disturbed him. But it made sense though, Heracles can't speak much, only small bits, like-

"Auntie?"

Rio twitched in annoyance. "Y-yes...?"

"You...eat?"

"Oh, me? No I'm not hungry yet."

Suddenly, the boy begin speaking fluent Greek and Rio looked at him in surprise. "Heracles?"

After a few minutes, Heracles kept going, making Rio wonder what the heck he was talking about. "What are you saying?"

"Oh?" Julius comes in for seconds, "Did you eat yet?"

"Not yet, but say, can you understand Greek?"

"Yes, what is it?"

"What's he saying? He's been going on about something for a few minutes now."

"Let's see..." Julius paused to listen. A few seconds in, Rio notices his expression range to amazed and confused.

"So, what's he saying?"

"Well, what exactly did you say to him?"

"Something to the effect of 'I'm not hungry yet'."

"Okay, well... It's like..."

"Like what?"

"How to put it..? Like philosophical rant about how if you don't eat you'll end up..."

"End up where?"

"Exactly. Where will you end up?"

"I don't know."

"See? That's where it starts."

"W-what?! I don't understand!"

"I don't think he knows either... Trying to describe stuff like this is complicated..."

* * *

"Yes, they all left!" Lovina cheered.

"Hey, not all of us. Those people left cause they had strict schedules and had no point to stay long," said Adriano.

"Which was most of them!"

"Really, Lov, I've never seen you so overjoyed..." said Clara. Alessa happily sat on the counter eating gelato.

'Ding dong'!

"Eh, who could that be, aru? It's so late..." said Yue, still playing with the baby, while Rio and the nephews tried in vain to wake up a drunk Sadik and take him home.

The door opened, and Antonio flashed inside, bounding straight to Lovina. "Merry Christmas, Lovi!"

"Y-you! Get off!"

"Now that I think about it," says Adriano, "You haven't cursed for some while."

"R-re-really?"

"Ah," Rio looked up at her, "It's probably because she doesn't feel the need to... Maybe growing out of it?" Having given up on the Turk waking up anytime soon, he let the man rest his head on his lap as they sat (Well, at least Rio sat) on the carpet.

"Or maybe since there were so many strangers she didn't want any bad impressions?" said Clara. As she said this, Adriano smirked to himself and went behind the tree. Alessa caught on to it was well and walked closer to Lovina and Antonio.

"Hey guys," greeted Maria as she and Amaranto came through the door with gifts, "We finally managed to get here before it ended!"

* * *

"So... Adriano, you got me this?" said Julius as he looked at his gift. "But why?"

"I told you, I will be near your underwear drawer."

"But this isn't a drawer, it's just underwear..."

"Exactly," Adriano grabs the new underwear and runs upstairs, "I'll put it up for you!"

"Nooo! Come back!" Everyone laughs as Julius stands up and runs up the stairs as well.

Luciana giggled. "Those two..."

After a few minutes, Adriano comes back through the back door. "Okay, Yue, your turn."

"How...?" asked Julius, panting as he ran down the stairs.

"You don't need to know" he said as he handed Yue a big box. "I didn't have time to wrap it; amazingly, they deliver fast."

Yue smiled as she brought out the wok, engraved on the rims in her favorite sayings; then she looked in to find a huge kitchen knife.

"What...," said Luciana, "Are you sure this gift is...?"

"Of course," said Adriano, "Yong Soo wouldn't give her the real thing."

"Don't you think there was a good reason for that?!" yelled Julius.

"Calm... She's responsible enough and you know it."

Yue hugged him. "Thank you aru!"

"No problem. Now..." he faced Lovina, "Here you go." He handed her a small box.

Lovina opened it to find an engraved switchblade. "Whoa... Thanks."

"What?!" exclaimed Julius, "Why did you get that? That's dangerous as well!"

"Don't worry. It's..." He paused, "So she could open boxes-"

"Don't give me that half-hearted excuse!"

"But you _can_ open boxes with it..." He stood up and went behind the tree and peered around. "And for you Antonio... Please stand in front of the tree."

"Okay!"

"Now Lovina, go stand in front of him." Suspicious, she still does what he says.

"Alessa, you know what to do; Maria, get ready."

By now, everyone was wondering what was going to happen except for the ones who were in on it. Heracles, still in the kitchen, moved on to dessert.

"Antonio, you had a gift for Lovina, right?"

"Oh, yes! Hold on!" His father handed him the gift and he handed it to here, "Here you go, Lovina!"

She opened it to find a stationary full of decorated postcards.

"Since we're going to be separated soon, we can mail each other! I have two penpals I mail once a week, but I'll mail you everyday!"

"That... That's a waste of postage money!" It's just too much!

"No, it's not! It's-"

"Hey you two, look up!" They looked up at Adriano's voice to see him dangling something above them from upstairs, "Ha, you guys were so distracted you didn't even notice!"

"What's this?" asked Lovina as she tries to poke at it. A flower?

"Eh," said Alessa, "You don't know? It's a mistletoe!"

"A mistletoe? Hey, Toni, what's a-?" She looked to see him blushing redder than she ever did. "Toni?" What's wrong?

Rio laughed, understanding what was going to happen, while Julius tried to keep his fatherly self calm and not interfere. Luciana took out her cell phone, ready to send whatever she got to their mothers.

Lovina looked at everyone, confused, not noticing Alessa's hands about to push her forward.

**Carl - Hah! Totally barged in! You'll never catch me! *Teleports away***

It felt like hours passed. And passed...

She wasn't sure what to do now. Pull away?

It feels strange, and her stomach was all twisty nside. Toni's red and strangely still.

So still as if he was going to-

"Toni?!" Lovina said in surprise as he fell to the ground. He... he actually fainted...

Adriano laughed. "I can't believe that was too intense for you!"

Lovina glared up at him. "Bastard, it's all your fault!" she yelled as Maria carried Antonio to the couch to recover.

"Aww, there's the cussing Little Lady we all adore, even if you don't cuss much!"

"Now, now..." said Luciana as she handed Yue and Lovina identical gift boxes, "Just open your gifts from Julius."

After giving Julius small glares, the girls opened it to find a disposible cameras with four packages of film.

"Make memories... or something," said Julius, scratching his head nervously, "Make a scrapbook, or when you develop the pictures you can hang on the wall. Yue, you're leaving after the Christmas season, right? You can send us updates of what's going on, if you want... and Lovina will send some back to you..."

"Friends are friends wherever they go is to the effect of what he's saying," said Rio, "I guess."

A hand reaches up and cups his cheeks. "Whoa...whoa..Is this a dream? Am I really having one of those bromance moments with my cute friend?"

Rio twitches in annoyance and shoves him against the couch, earning a surprised and frightened reaction from Julius.

"I'm not cute, and this isn't a dream, and this isn't a bromance moment or whatever! We were just waiting for you to wake up! Anyway..." He reached into his coat pocket and pulled out two medium-small boxes.

"What's that aru?" asked Yue.

"For you guys," He glanced at Luciana, "With permission, of course." He handed over the boxes, one with a red ribbon and the other with green. "Happy early Christmas to you..."

Inside each of their boxes was ten jingle bells, two normal sized ones and eight smaller ones, each with individual strings with different colors.

"What?" Lovina simply said.

"I was wondering what to get you guys, and some days back, I bumped into this red-haired foreigner kid your age, maybe older - I forgot his name - I thought he thought I was a pedophile or something and was about to scream, but instead, he handed me this sack full of the bells sorted together and ran off without another word."

"Just like that?" asked Clara.

"Yes, and when I got home I found a sheet telling me what they were for, and I figured it'd be a good gift for you two so..."

"What did the sheet say?" asked Luciana, looking at the bells in Lovina's hands as she examined them.

"It said, I suppose I should make it simpler..." he went to Lovina and took the two bigger bells, "One is for you, and the other will wind up with your soul mate, no matter what. And then," he pointed to the smaller bells, "Those, are for friends you make or connect with starting from right now as I give them to you. It says that if the connection is strong enough, you can feel their feelings, like if they feel threatened."

"Really?" Lovina said, a bit skeptical. Yue looked at them in awe, smiling affectionately at the light jingles it makes when she touches them.

"Wait aru," said Yue, "So I can't give one to Lovina? Or Yong Soo?"

"I suppose so. But I think your close with them enough, you get what I mean."

"I think so. Thank you for the gift."

"Yeah, Rio," said Lovina, "Thanks..."

"You're welcome! Tell me how it goes when you give one away, okay?"

"Okay." They both say.

"And now, since that's over," he goes to grab the back of Sadik's shirt and pulls him up, "I need to get him home before he says anymore weird things. Come on, you two," he calls to the two nephews. "Cy, can you get the baby?"

"Cy?" said Luciana

"It's his nickname, but he won't say his real one, so I just leave it like that." At this point, they're all ready to leave and they head to the door, "Thanks for having us, see you guys."

"Bye," everyone simultaneously said.

"Ah, we need to go too," said Alessa, looking at Clara.

"I'll drive you guys," offered Adriano, already heading out the door.

Amaranto carries a still knocked out Antonio in his arms, "We should make our leave too as well."

"Thank you for inviting us, even if we came a bit late!" said Maria.

**Carl - I think this turned out well... SaySaeri - I hope so! **

"Well, that was certainly interesting," said Julius, helping Luciana put up the leftover food.

"It was fun this year! And Lov got her first kiss!"

"Ugh, don't remind me..."

Lovina and Yue come downstairs from their bath. "Remind you what, Mr. Julius?" asked Lovina.

"It's nothing-" Luciana interjected, "How did you feel when you and Antonio kissed?"

"Eh...? Well... It was weird."

"...That's it?"

She blushes and looks away. "Well, I am only five."

Meanwhile, the seven year old some miles away in his bed won't stop rolling around blushing and smiling, clutching onto his bull plushie the whole night until he knocks himself out again.

* * *

**Yes! It is done for this chapter! Please give me some feedback, if you please.**

**Next they head to France! **

**I have the whole thing planned but I felt adding some extra stuff wouldn't hurt, as long as it still rolls.**

**So, what do you guys think of Rio and the new characters? TNRC is the baby, while Cyprus is... nice, calm ol' Cyprus. It's sort of hard to do their characters since there's not much of them... So is Greece... and Turkey...**

**Xd What do you guys think of Rio and Turkey together? Hahaa... /shot/ Just a thought to ponder. **

**To refresh:**

**Rio is a rough looking, but nice guy with side burns (he cut off the goatee)**

**Karen is Julius's mother. D'accord means 'okay' in French, around that effect. **

**I sort of forgot if Grandmother in French had a hypen in it or not.**


	16. Before You head off, I'll tell You This

**This is before Lovina goes to France.**

**Sort of important in a way... Something I have noticed earlier when I was going through this story's writer block.**

**I don't own Hetalia.**

**Warning: Language. And friendship at its finest between a 5 year old and a 22 year old.**

**I... I just had to laugh when I realized Rio was older than Julius... XD **

**For a recap, Julius and Luciana are 20. And have had a fairly blessed life, like Julius taking on a branch of his family's company at 20, sometimes they feel older with their sort of parenthood-ness.**

* * *

"Can't I pay? I have the money for the gelato," Lovina pouted as Rio refused her money.

"No way. Save that when you go to France and convert your money."

Determined, she continued to pout and held out her hand full of the right amount to pay him.

"No."

"..."

_'Gah, she playing the puppy eyes card!' _thought Rio. Sighing, he took the money while Lovina grinned and continued finishing her gelato. '_Really, where did she learn that from?' _He sighed, '_It must have been Yue...'_

"Oh, yeah," said Rio, "When does Yue leave?"

"..." '_Oh shit,' _thought Rio as an aura of gloom hovered over Lovina, '_I forgot how depressed she gets when friends like her moved from that last conversation we had.'_

"...She leaves right when we come home from France."

He looked at her in surprise. "So soon?"

She put her small spoon in her mouth and mumbled, "Korean bastard arrives here around the same time to get on the flight back to their home when we come back into Italy at the airport."

Rio chuckled nervously. "Ah, like hitting two birds with one stone?"

"Yeah..."

He watched as she headed closer to depression. '_I... I have to cheer her up!' _"Ah.. Well, you know, you both have cameras now and post cards and things like that. You guys will still be in touch with each other... And you know," he ruffled her hair, "You have those bells I gave you from that weird kid!"

"The bells?"

"Um, yeah! The ones she gives her to and the ones you give yours too, it'll uh..."

"What?"

"It'll.. all," he tried to find the words, "T-tie together?"

This got Lovina's attention, and she straightened in her seat in interest. "Like the red string of fate?"

"The red string of fate?"

Lovina nodded. "Yue told me this myth where your bonded to your lover with the red string of fate; but in this case, we're friends..."

"Well, as long as its sort of similar, that doesn't matter right?"

"I guess so."

"Man," said Rio, "Sometimes with you on conversations like these, I keep thinking I'll somehow piss you off and you'll blow up as bad as your father..."

Lovina looked at him confused. "Mr. Julius doesn't blow up..." she paused, "but he does complain a lot like a little kid."

_'You're a kid yourself,'_ thought Rio. '_Oh, that's right, she doesn't know...'_ "You're officially adopted right?"

"Um, yeah. What of it?"

He watched her face carefully for her reaction. "I think I know who your real father is."

Instead of the surprised face he'd thought he would get, he got an uninterested one and it worried him. "Lovina?"

"You have proof?"

"Ah.. You both have that curl."

"Some other Italians do."

"You both cuss rather fluently, if that makes any sense."

"There are other people in many places of the world other than Italy who cuss."

"You... you look like your mother-"

"I heard of a lot of people saying I look like Mrs. Luciana but she's not my mother."

"Then there's-"

"Just stop it," Lovina snapped. "It's fine, the way it is now," she added quietly.

"Huh?" '_The way it is now?'_

"Rio, if this person is my father, then what should I do about it?"

"Obviously, you should... find... him..." he trailed off, watching as Lovina's face saddened and frowned.

"Then what? Run happily into his arms? Even if it wasn't him who ditched me at that train station, how do you not know that someone else is going to take me and abandon me somewhere else?"

_'She's right,' _Rio thought, '_Even if she goes back to her real home, she isn't safe.'_

"For some reason," Lovina began, looking at her small reflection on her spoon, "I wasn't wanted. Whether it was for my protection, someone else's satisfaction, or something else all together... I don't think I can go back yet."

"Yeah..." he scratched the back of neck, "I- I'm sorry..."

"Nah, it's fine. You were just trying to help... silly bastard."

To lift up the mood, he brought out her money from the machine and handed it back to her. "Here, take my apologies."

"Tch, no way. I paid fairly as a customer should."

"Ah, but..." he gestured to the sign across the room, sprinkled with glitter and outlined in ribbons:

**'IN THE MIDST OF DEPRESSION, I'LL GIVE YOU SUCCESSION!'**

"...What the hell is that? It even has sparkles..."

"Boss's idea. I don't understand it either, but I figured that if I depress someone I give them a refund-"

"THAT IS NOT IT!" shouted a certain Turkish boss as he came out from the back room with a bang of the door.

"T-Then what is it?" asked Rio, not bothering to ask why Sadik was listening in on them.

"You see," Sadik looked dramatically to the side, "When the time comes here a customer is dying-"

"Who the hell would die here?!" '_We run a simple gelato shop!'_

"Oy, bastard," called out Lovina to Sadik, "Don't you have other shops to look after? You're always here."

"Eh, I don't want to visit the others, they have no zip."

_'Then give them zip so they can be successful! Have you no interest in your business affairs?!' _thought Rio, wanting to rip the man apart in frustration.

"What about you?" Sadik asked Lovina, "I thought you were heading of to France today."

"I am, just hanging out here. They're going to pick me up though."

"Your little Asian friend didn't want to come?"

"She's packing," she simply said, her mood going down as she was reminded that Yue wouldn't come home with her when they came back.

"What about your boyfriend?"

Now that got her mood up at a stand-off. "H-h-he's not my boyfriend! I'm five!"

"So? I heard in Asia, the youngest couple with a kid was nine years old."

"Ni-ni-ni-nine?!" stuttered Lovina in surprise. She wasn't ready for kids! They weren't even at that step in life yet! "I..I'm nn-n-not ready for tha-that..."

"Stop tell her stuff like that!" Rio said, pushing Sadik to the back door, "Go tend to the baby or something."

"Ehh... Fine, fine," he kissed Rio's forehead like it was the most natural thing in the world, "Okay, hone-"

Rio twitched in anger and embarrassment as he slammed Sadik against the wall. "Honey my ass!"

"Wow..." Lovina said as she watched Sadik laugh and recover while he staggered into the back room, leaving a small dent in the wall.

"Just ignore all of what he said okay? Do all that when you get older."

Lovina couldn't help but giggle. "Okay... honey."

"Don't start with that..." sighed Rio. "He's been weirder."

"Maybe he's in lo-"

"NO WAY IN HELL," he flicked her forehead, "What have the girls and Adriano been putting in your head?" Oh yes, he remembered them from the mock Christmas.

He watches as she grabs on to her curl and forms it into a heart shape. "What are you doing?"

Then she startles him by wiping her face of emotions as she prepares for what she is about to do.

Taking a deep breatch, she thumbs-up at him, and her face grins cutely at him in confidence, trying to mimic Alessa, "Hehe~ As long as it flows with you, L-O-V-E overcomes ever-"

"NO. Just... no." _Just what kind of an adult are you going to become in the future with such strange influences?!_

* * *

**Whew. Then afterwards, they came to pick her up.**

**Rio: You're ending it like that?!**

**Lovina: Tch... I hate forcing it to curl like that... but practice makes perfect.**

**Rio: Why would you practice for that?!**

**I'll try my best next chapter... *bows* Forgive me...**


	17. While on the Airplane

**Hi guys! Sorry! So sorry! I kind of had a writer's block with this chapter. Even if I know where its heading, its hard to get the words together...**

**I drew Carl some days back, slightly wavy haired-**

**Carl: And voluptuous...**

**I thought it was volumptuous...?**

**Carl: No, it's not... *teleports away***

**Where's he going...? **

**He's a strange guy... **

**Anyway, ****Carl's half Japanese (Father) and part American, Scottish, and some French (Mother). He shares his father with his half siblings and has his Mother's last name. His story will come soon in here, maybe. The bells are important so keep tabs on that, okay?**

**Other than that...**

**Warnings: Language, dark situations**

* * *

At first it was pleasant, going on a airplane for the first time.

Then, as they went higher and higher...

Her ears started to ring.

And it hurt so freaking much. Looking across her aisle to where Yue and Mrs. Luciana was, she wondered if their ears were hurting.

... Apparently not, judging by their relaxed faces as they chattered with each other.

Turning to her seat mate, she was somewhat satisfied with the troubled expression his face. Happy she wasn't alone on this, she spoke with her little hands on her ears. "What's happening to us, Mr. Julius?"

"Our bodies are getting used to the altitude," chuckling a bit, he moved his hands over to put her hands down, "That won't help. We just have to wait, unless do you want to ask someone for gum?"

"Gum?"

"The chewing helps, but not for me. Maybe for you it might."

She shook her head. "Nah, I'll just wait."

He laid back into his seat and relaxed. "You can try to sleep it off."

She mimicked his movement. "Okay."

**Carl breaking page here. Dreaming is sometimes strangely foreshadowing doors to the past or the future.**

Second Person POV

Crap.

It... It's happening again... ugh, dreaming like this...

Lovina looked around suspiciously, finding herself in her room wearing her white night gown.

Walking out into the living room, she found it haunting to see pitch black out the window. Opening the front door she was face to face with darkness, and shut it as fast as she could.

"Well, I see I'm not getting out of this one..." Now finding quiet, she began talking loudly.

"Anyone in here? Toni?" She frowned, "Umm... Girl that says she's my sister? Are you here?"

No answer.

"...Alone, huh?" Trying not to dwell on the fact she was possibly, utterly alone, she ran upstairs, opening and looking into every room to see if anything or anyone was occupying it.

After what felt like an eternity, she found no one, and found herself sitting in the study. "No one..."

_Creak._

Stiffening, she slowly turned towards the door. _Creak._

"He-hello...?" She shakily stood up, scared to face whoever was walking creepily slow on the hallway's wood paneling.

She completely froze as a slim man in white clothes entered the study; his pale blond hair almost covered the left side of his eye, the other visibly a blue eye, and apart from the dark square rimmed glasses he seemed a fairly intelligent and quiet man. He walked right in front of Lovina, his eyes scanning the names of the books and his fingers running through them.

"W-who th-the h-he-hell are-e-e yo-you...?" She stuttered, staring wide-eyed at the man.

She was ignored as he continued looking through the books, and Lovina was sure he couldn't see her. Taking it as an opportunity, she bolted out the door, not noticing that the man had stopped his movements, his eyes following her as she ran out.

Running downstairs and into her room, she closed the door and shut herself within her closet, sitting down and hugging her knees. Sighing, she began to think as rationally as she could. Back then when she had met Yue for the first time, Yue cleansed her of nightmares for a while.

It could have warded off, but then again...

Being alone in the house with a possibly not dangerous man who probably was ignoring her on purpose was not much of a nightmare.

So maybe...

Getting up, she got out of her room and into the living the room. Seeing the man again descending the stairs, she went to stand in front of the stairs, blocking his way. "Who are you, and what do you want to tell me?"

"..." The man simply stared passed her as continued to walk down the stairs towards her.

"I know you can see me, you jerk! And I really want to wake up, so please..."

Seeing as he walked passed her, she resorted to clinging onto his legs like she does with Rio.

He stopped walking as they arrived in front of the living room, and looked down on her silently before finally beginning to talk. "Who are you?"

She blinked and simply answered back. "Lovina. Now, who the hell are you?"

"...I don't know."

She looked up at him in disbelief. "You don't know your own name?"

"No... They didn't name me... or her... yet. Or maybe they did..."

"Her?"

"My... sister couldn't... be here... She's with them..." As he said this, Lovina let go and stood up on her own, crossing her arms.

"Okay, you're seriously confusing me-" She stopped as a hand patted her hand as if it wanted to make sure she was there.

"Please help me... find them..."

"Wh-what? How?"

"I looked around... You are the only one sleeping within range who... can see me."

"But how can I help?"

"When you're awake find me... my other form... They're... scared... I can feel it..." She watched as he closed his eyes and frowned.

"H-How...?"

He opened his eyes, his pupils dilated into a darker color. "Master is so little, he... couldn't hold on... And I was tossed away... My sister can't protect them by herself..." He brought his hands together into fists.

Before she could ask for more information, she felt herself being shaken, and her sight faded.

**Breaking here again, with Carl. When your hair covers your eyes for a long time, the eyesight gets effected.**

"Do you have a sister aru?" Yue asked Mrs. Luciana in a curious way that a child asks their mother if they have unknown family members other than their grandparents.

In reality though, Yue needed more knowledge about the event that happened those years ago. At that moment she found the article, she felt a connection. A deep, penetrating connection that nagged on her mind once in a while. Especially with the Chiara girl; she felt like she knew her, and not in the Lovina-looks-like-her kind of way.

And she had her suspicions too, with Lovina, Chiara, and...

That man back then who wanted to start clean of the work style he had led in another life.

Seeing her stiffening, Yue backtracked from a possible land mine. "It's okay aru, you don't have to answer. I was just wondering."

"No,no," Somehow shaking away her stance, Luciana smiled, "It's fine." Pausing for a bit, she nodded, "I have an older sister; her name is Chiara. I haven't seen her in a long time though; she went missing before you guys were born."

Yue looked awkwardly to the side. "Oh..."

"She was the best sister anyone could ever ask for... My only complaint was that I couldn't spend enough time with her because of her going to World Academy..."

Yue trembled as she heard that name once more. Those strange feelings as she heard it, the back of her mind turning and turning... trying to find the reason why. Was her first time in that study not the first she heard of World Academy...? But if she had shut that memory out, what was the reason? The most of her memories in this life started around when Yong Soo came to retrieve her from the orphanage when she was three; her mother having dropped her off weeks prior to Yong Soo's arrival to...

To...

To what was it... Yue remembered some of the orphanage caretakers talking about her mother rudely for ditching her without an explanation, but she never felt as they did. Why was that...?

_It's dangerous where I am going, so wait here for me okay? Yue..._

Yes... She remembered... before her mother had left...

_Memories of mine had been locked away for so long in that darkness... Here with you, my little child, avoids the reality I have been hiding from. Now that I have those memories returned to me I must face it, and find those who are the same as me, and set them back into the light. It will take some time though, with our worldly origins, like a huge puzzle to be solved..._

_My dear little moon, lighting the way for me despite the darkness I have been living in these years, I thank you so much. The last thing I would want is any harm coming to you. Hopefully here, no one would take you away..._

_There is that feeling though, when you were born, that you are destined for a life outside this orphanage, this country..._

_So should you go your destined path, I wish you luck, and that we will meet again where everything will be brighter..._

_Oh, but Heavens bless my heart if you are married when we meet again! I do not think I will take that well. Haha~ My sweet, take care. Mother loves you very much._

That's right_. _Her mother had something important to do... something dear to her before she was born... So it was okay, because she understood so well, what it was like to have something- someone so important to you to be lost. That was the reason why she was here after all, to meet him again...

"Yue...?"

Yue blinked and looked to see Luciana regarding her worriedly. "Hm?"

"Are you alright, Sweetheart? You seemed to be out of it."

"Ah, it's alright aru! I just..." she looked around, seeing people standing up, "Are we here?"

"Yes, now let's get you unbuckled..."

As Luciana helped her out of her seat (although she really didn't need help, but whatever), Yue looked over to see Lovina being woken up by Julius, her eyes filled with deep distress.

"Something happened in her dream aru..."

"Hmm? Did you say something?" asked Luciana.

"I-I was just talking to myself."

After managing to get together they walked out into the terminal, with Lovina whispering over to Yue about what had happened in her dream.

* * *

**What will they face next? Lovina has that... fighting spirit... yeah. **

**Carl: I think you can totally make a jingle out of that.**

**Oh, shush, you.**

******At the beginning, that type of bonding between daughter and father... is small and pleasant. They will go far.**

**Reall though, one must keep an eye on their adorable children... **

**Who can guess who the guy is? I...I think I made it obvious...**

**My ears always hurt first airplane trip; the trip back, it doesn't hurt at all. Chewing gum doesn't help though. What helps me is plugging my ears with my hands, and writhing like I'm experiencing spasms. And swallowing. That also helps too. **

**What's your feedback? Do you kind of feel what kind of person Yue's mother is? **


	18. Saving the Canadians Part 1

**Hiya~! Thank you for the reviews! **

**It was Kumajirou, though! Nice try~!**

**I don't own Hetalia. And Carl went off somewhere again, leaving me a note that said:**

'Don't forget, just remember.'

**Oh Carl... you can be so vague. He's a nice guy though.**

**Warning: Language. And some bad stuff. Part 2 will be a tad worse.**

**For future PruCan fans, in this story, to be sure with you all:**

- Canada will go with ...? (I'm debating between Belarus or nyo!Prussia, I've made two scenarios and it doesn't really change the plot, but what do you think?)

- nyo!Canada will go with Prussia

- I'm not sure if I elaborated it earlier...

**If you guys have questions about the pairings that are in here, please ask! **

**If you want to know about the other pairings I never mentioned but they're in here and you want to know, please ask! **

**Part 1 and 2 are sort of dark, dark to me at least. Especially 2.**

* * *

"Maattie! Maddiieee!" Yelled in a boy of five with blond hair and blue eyes, walking around the bathroom of the airport. He wore jeans and a dark blue jacket.

A girl his age, her short blond hair a bit more auburn than him, but the same eyes, walked at his side, wearing a matching jacket, but open, revealing a white blouse, along with a blue denim skirt. Pulling up the strap of her backpack with her little league baseball bat up, and matching his pace, she yelled in English, "Where are you guys?"

The boy stopped and looked around. "See? This is what happens when you want to find the bathroom by yourselves without a hero nearby."

"And a heroine, Al," said the girl, "I hope they're okay though, what if they got kidnapped?"

The boy began walking again at a faster pace. "Then we gotta go find them Am!"

Before they could get any farther, they were stopped by their father, "Amelia, Alfred. Julius and them have arrived. We have to go meet them."

"But Dad! Mattie and Maddie are-"

Bending down to meet level with his son and beckoning his daughter closer, Aaron Jones spoke quietly to them. "I know, but for now, I've sent Ms. Windy to go find them."

"But Daddy," said Amelia, "Your fairies can't protect them from bad guys..."

"I know. But if there's anything wrong she is going to back as fast as she can and tell us where they are. Your mother went ahead and called for the airport security to look as well."

"Okay..." they said begrudgingly, and followed their father.

* * *

"This is probably serious," whispered Yue as Lovina told her what the white-clothed man told her in her dream as they walked out, "When we get out, we have to get our luggage and get my wok and your knife out."

"Okay," she whispered back, "But who did you managed to get that through? Mrs. Luciana checked out our luggage before we left."

"I did it last minute. But we must hurry, it sounds like whoever is in trouble is our age, maybe younger."

Lovina nodded. "Right." They continued to follow their guardians as they walked out of the tunnel.

As they walked out, Yue let herself sense the area around them while Lovina looked around for something white.

After they introduced themselves, the adults began talking among each other while they were left to the twins, Alfred and Amelia.

"Hey," said Lovina in English, "Am I speaking okay for an Italian?"

"Yeah!" said Alfred enthusiastically, before sharing a look with his sister and quieted.

"What is it?" asked Yue, "Is there something wrong?"

"Well," said Amelia, "We can't find Maddie or Mattie, our twin cousins," she looked at Lovina, "And your cousins too. They almost always come back, but this is a big place, and it's really loud."

"Yeah," said Alfred, "And they're really quiet. Like, seriously quiet. When they talk regularly, it sounds like a whisper."

"They didn't talk for a long time until now," added Amelia.

"I see..." said Yue, before thinking to herself.

"Do you guys know anyone who wears white?" asked Lovina, thinking that maybe they are somehow connected to the man in her dream.

"White? I don't think so. You mean like white all the time?" asked Amelia.

"Can it be an animal?" asked Alfred, "Cause we know two."

"Two?" Lovina simply said, remembering what the man said of him and his sister. "Is it a boy and a girl?"

"Right! Haha, how'd you know?"

"What are they?" she asked.

"Mattie and Maddie always hold these bears with them they found back home on a trip. Uncle and Auntie bought a license and everything. They're white and they can talk!"

"They talk aru?!" exclaimed Yue.

"What do they say?" asked Lovina.

Alfred scratched the back of his neck. "Mattie and Maddie gave them names and they kept forgetting it, and bears kept forgetting a lot too. So Mattie and Maddie ended up teaching them how to say, 'Who are you?'"

"Ha!" exclaimed Lovina, grabbing Yue's arm and tugging on it, "That's it! He said that!"

"What?" said the twins.

After telling them who she had met in her dreams, they went with it.

"Then," said Amelia worriedly, "They really are in trouble..."

"Wait aru," said Yue, "Lovina, the man said he was tossed away and got separated right?"

"That's right!" said Alfred, "Then he's around here! We have to find him!"

* * *

It was so dark in here...

Matthew looked around where they were at. Looking up, there was a vent so they could breathe, and the outside looked like they were somewhere in the underground where people parked their cars.

He put his small hands into a fist. Somehow as they were in the bathroom together (Madeline coming with him into the Mens' bathroom since she was too scared to go on her own), they were suddenly knocked out by weird smelling stuff and woke up in here.

"This is all my fault," he said out loud, but it sounded like a whisper, "We should have gone to the Womens' Bathroom."

"It's not your fault..." said Madeline, sitting down next to him, "It could have happened to anyone. At least they didn't take our stuff. I still have my bag and inside was Ku-"

"Who are you?" said the little bear in Madeline's arms suddenly.

"I'm Madeline..." she responded.

Matthew looked at the little girl bear, and wondered where his bear was.

"Hn..hnnn..." They looked around at the sound, hearing it close by.

"Anyone there?" squeaked Madeline, frightened, while the bear growled. Matthew continued to stand, looking around warily.

After hearing the sound again from the corner, Matthew pulled Madeline the opposite direction, and they sat together, continuing to be wary of their surroundings.

* * *

"Mr. Bear," said Alfred as he looked under the seats of the terminals that were nearby the adults they were with.

Amelia looked around the bathrooms, and pondered whether to check out inside both.

Meanwhile, Yue and Lovina watched as the adults grabbed the luggage for them, until what Yue had indicated was the suitcase with the wok and her switch knife.

Holding close to her, Yue felt around it and nodded, assured that it held the right contents.

"Where did your big knife go?" asked Lovina.

"I sent it to my friends Kiku and Sakura in Japan so they could hold it for me until I know where me and Yong Soo are staying at. The wok is enough to fight with."

"Kiku and Sakura?"

"Oh yes, your were unconscious then. They're friends we made when we went to Japan."

"Really?" said Lovina, who couldn't help but be surprised, "I thought..."

Yue smiled, "You'll be able to meet them again. And we can all hang out with each other!"

Lovina couldn't help but smile happily. "Yeah..."

"Hey, hey!" They looked up to see Amelia run to them, a bear in her arms. Seeing this also, Alfred ran to them.

"Where was he?" asked Yue.

"I asked the people as the desk, and they said someone found him in the Mens' Bathroom. They thought it was a stuffed bear, though."

"No," said the bear, stirring in her arms.

"Whoa! So you were playing doll!" said Alfred.

"More importantly though," said Yue, getting into the eye contact with the bear, "Do you know who took your masters?"

The bear immediately growled in response before straightening itself in Amelia's hold, looking around with its dark beady eyes, holding a small glint of dark blue.

"Was it more than one person?" asked Lovina.

He shook his head.

"Was it just a man?" asked Amelia.

He nodded.

"How'd he get them?" asked Alfred, "Did he strangle them?"

He shook his head.

"Then..." trailed off Lovina, remembering something she saw on television, "Was it like some rag that knocks you out?"

He nodded.

"Oh, I think I know what that is!" said Alfred, "I think it's called Chlo-lo..."

"Chloroform?" asked Amelia.

"Yeah! It gets you out like a light."

"Now what are you guys chattering about?" They looked up to see Mr. Jones looking down at them. For some reason, he brought out a strange aura to Lovina, and she spotted the little person on his head.

"What the hell is that?!" she exclaimed, pointing to his head.

"Oh, yeah," began Amelia, "Daddy's half English, and he can talk to fairies. We can see them cause we're kids."

"Mommy can only hear them cause she's mostly with Dad, so maybe when we get older we can't see them anymore," added Alfred.

"This is Ms. Windy," said Mr. Jones, "I asked her to go find Madeline and Matthew."

"Did she...?" asked Amelia.

Mr. Jones shook his head, "Apparently, they are no longer in the airport."

"No..." said Amelia, hugging the bear tighter.

"No longer in the airport..." muttered Lovina, as she began to think.

"There is no way he could have that far with them," stated Yue. "My friends were kidnapped once along with other children, so maybe..."

"More victims?!" said Alfred, stunned at such a thing for his five year old mind to take in.

"Yue, but that's different," said Lovina, "Rio was actually good guy; also he was too easy and this time feels different. I think this bastard's serious."

"What do you mean by that?" asked Amelia.

Mr. Jones answered for her. "She means this man is not an ordinary villain like on the shows, lass. We have to find them as soon as possible."

"Geez!" Alfred let out, "If they had just stayed home with Auntie and Uncle this wouldn't have happened! Now Auntie and Uncle are going to be mad at us, and Mattie and Maddie might never come back!"

"Alfred!" Mr. Jones scolded, "You're being too loud! Only you children, and your mother and I know about this."

"And it should stay that way aru," said Yue, "Too much would only bring suspicion."

"Then, what do you suggest we do?" asked Mr. Jones.

* * *

A little fairy with a red dress came through her own little portal, and went to settle on Mr. Jones's head. "What'd you need me for, Aaron?"

"In an half hour, I need you track down Ms. Windy."

"Why?" The fairy looked around the terminal. "What is that silly friend of ours getting into this time?"

Mr. Jones looked at his watch uncomfortably, but trusted the children to keep themselves safe. "Playing live bait with the twins while my two nieces are playing hide and seek with Madeline and Matthew."

Meanwhile...

Lovina and Yue looked around the wide area that was the closest parking lot, which was Underground level 1. Seeing that one end lead up to the second floor and the other leading to the exit and entrance, they split up.

While Lovina headed to the side towards the second floor, Yue went towards the entrance. Since they were both small though, they both ultimately decided to climb on top of the tallest car closest to them and begin from there.

_'There are many different types of criminals out there, Adriano told me one day,'_ thought Lovina as she listened carefully for any sounds to be alarmed of, _'With that, their choice of car are probably not that different, considering budget cuts and whether they steal on the side or not...'_

"Hnngh..." Lovina looked around upon hearing that sound. "Hnngh..." She heard it again.

With Yue, she used her sense of presence, which was tricky when there were actually some people in her area that were waiting in their cars for their guests/and or the other person they came with to buy a ticket or something. Because of that though, she assumed that the kidnapper wouldn't park close to here with people awake in their cars waiting for someone.

Making sure no one saw her, she ran over to where Lovina was in a flash. Upon going to Lovina however, Yue felt a sense of dread come at her. "Someone's hurt aru."

Lovina looked at her in a contemplating silence, and continued to listen for that sound she heard earlier. "..."

"Lovina?"

"Shh... I heard something strange earlier."

At that, Yue listened carefully as well; and they heard it again. "Hnngh..."

"There!" exclaimed Yue, pinpointing it down to a car about a good ten cars away from them; a van with a ventilation on top.

* * *

*Thump... Thump...* Matthew and Madeline looked up at the sound; it sounded like someone jumping on top of the cars...

"Hnngh..." Matthew stared back at the sound again off in the corner opposite of where they were. He wondered whether to go see what it was, but he was too afraid.

Suddenly, the thumping sound was above them, and they looked up to see someone looming over the vent. "I think it's this one," they heard a girl say in English. "They do know English right?"

"I should think so," they heard another girl say.

After hearing nothing after a while, Matthew called out hesitantly. "Hello?"

"Did you hear something aru?" Matthew couldn't help but frown at that, and before he could try out and call again, he heard the other girl.

"Didn't Alfred say they were really quiet?" Then they heard a thump again and the voice directed towards them. "Oy, I'm Lovina. Matthew, Madeline, are you in here?"

At this, the girl bear spoke up. "Who?"

"Matthew and Madeline," repeated Lovina, "Who are you?"

"...Who are you?" the bear asked.

Then they heard the Lovina speak to the other girl. "Yep, it's them."

"But how do we get in aru?" They heard the other girl say.

"Hmm..." Lovina spoke to Matthew and Madeline, "Hey, is there an opening to the front seat back there? Can you feel around?"

Matthew tried to speak his loudest. "N-no... There is something making strange noises and it's scary..."

After a pause, Lovina spoke again. "Don't worry about them right now; they're hurt- they were there before you guys. Just feel ahead of you to see if you can get to the front. We don't have much time."

Swallowing in nervousness, Matthew got up, with Madeline following suit and clinging to him while holding her bear, and headed towards the front with his hand out. After a few seconds, he felt a latch, but it wouldn't budge. Telling Lovina and the other girl that, they heard her curse a bit before talking again.

"Tch. Then we have to wait for the guy to come, but first..." They heard her sit down on the van. "This vent can fit us in, what do you think?" they heard her say to the other girl.

Suddenly, Madeline felt someone tug on her dress weakly. "Hgnn... h..ehit... it hurts..."

"Damn it," they heard Lovina say upon hearing that, "This is worse than I thought. Yue?"

They heard the other girl, Yue, talk to them, "Tap if you're not under the vent."

After Matthew tapped the slightest bit, they staggered back against the inside of the van as Yue crashed through the vent with her wok, Lovina following suit.

* * *

**And they landed like a meteorite.**

**Yue is considered family.**

**I'm sorry if this seemed a bit late; I having trouble trying to type their actions correctly...**

**Next chapie comes the tag-teaming of the powerful Americans, the clever Asian, and the badass Italian. **

**No one's dead or will die, don't worry. Unless you guys wanted someone to die...?**

**Mr. Jones's first name is Aaron , his wife Abigail. Isn't that cute their family starts with A? **

**Aaron is the sort of British side, and Abigail the American mix and some Native American. Alfred and Amelia are more like her. She's pretty strong too. They are also the twin's parents in my other story. **


End file.
